Cleft Sentences
Cleft Sentences are an area of English grammar that is used in daily conversation, but isn’t often taught.
I don’t know many things, but what I am knowledgable about is English! (There’s an example!)
In this episode, I first explain two of these grammar patterns that you can follow, and then I go through some questions about travel, life experience, and work while answering using this grammar. And of course, I encourage you to do the same.
Cleft sentences emphasis part of the sentence and also add variety to your sentence structure.
IT Cleft Sentences
It is/was + [emphasized part] + that/who + [rest of the sentence]
It was John who borrowed my bike.
It was you who stole my wallet!
WHAT Cleft Sentences
What + [clause] + is/was + [emphasised part]
What I need is a good night’s sleep.
What I really need is a holiday.
Share an example of a cleft sentence in the comments
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It was my English teacher, Ms. Hassanzade, who introduced your podcast to me, so I am really lucky to have you both as incredible instructors
Thank you to your teacher, and to you! Really glad you found my podcast
Hi Michael,
I want to thank you for all your efforts on this podcast, but for this episode in particular I want to say that I am very grateful to you for explaining to me a theory of Cleft Sentences in a very simple way.
Thank you so much again, with my best wishes.
Hassan Ali
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Thank you, Hassan! It’s lovely to hear some positive feedback on this one. If I can achieve my goal of making it simple, that’s good enough for me