Cleft Sentences
B2 Cleft Sentences 🔦
Section titled “ Cleft Sentences 🔦”Normal sentence: “John broke the vase yesterday.” Everyone gets equal billing. Boring.
Cleft sentence: “It was John who broke the vase.” Suddenly John is under a spotlight, and the vase incident is a crime documentary.
Cleft sentences split a normal sentence into two parts so you can emphasize one piece. Subject? Time? Reason? Pick your focus, frame it, launch it.
Why cleft sentences exist
Section titled “Why cleft sentences exist”English (like Mandarin) lets you stress words by saying them louder: “JOHN broke the vase.” But in writing — or formal speech — you can’t bold someone’s name with your voice. Cleft sentences are the written equivalent of pointing a finger.
They answer the question: “Which part of this sentence matters most?”
| Normal | Focus | Cleft |
|---|---|---|
| John broke the vase | WHO | It was John who broke the vase |
| John broke the vase yesterday | WHEN | It was yesterday that John broke the vase |
| John broke the vase because he was angry | WHY | The reason John broke the vase was (that) he was angry |
| I need a vacation | WHAT | What I need is a vacation |
Same event. Four different spotlights.
Type 1: It-clefts — “It was X who/that…”
Section titled “Type 1: It-clefts — “It was X who/that…””The classic cleft. Emphasizes one element from a normal sentence.
It + be + focused element + who/that + rest of clause
The structure step by step
Section titled “The structure step by step”Start with: John broke the vase yesterday.
Pick your focus → build the cleft:
Focus on WHO (subject):
It was John who broke the vase yesterday.
是 John 打碎的。 (Shì John dǎsuì de.)
Focus on WHEN (time):
It was yesterday that John broke the vase.
是昨天打碎的。 (Shì zuótiān dǎsuì de.)
Focus on WHAT (object):
It was the vase that John broke yesterday.
是花瓶被打碎的。 (Shì huāpíng bèi dǎsuì de.)
Focus on WHERE (place):
It was in the kitchen that John broke the vase.
Same story. Four different accusations. Choose your drama.
Who vs. that
Section titled “Who vs. that”| Focus type | Relative pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Person | who (or that) | It was John who broke it |
| Thing / time / place | that (not which in it-clefts) | It was yesterday that it happened |
It-cleft with other tenses
Section titled “It-cleft with other tenses”The be verb matches the focused element’s time:
It is Sarah who handles the accounts.
→ Present focus, present tense.
It will be Tom who leads the project.
→ Future focus.
It has been Maria who has done all the work.
→ Emphasis on who has been responsible (up to now).
Common mistakes
Section titled “Common mistakes”Type 2: Wh-clefts / Pseudo-clefts — “What X is…”
Section titled “Type 2: Wh-clefts / Pseudo-clefts — “What X is…””Wh-clefts flip the structure: a wh-clause comes first, then be + focused element.
What/Thing/Place/Reason + clause + be + focused element
What I need is a vacation.
Normal: I need a vacation. Wh-cleft: What I need is a vacation. → The vacation is spotlighted as THE thing I need.
我需要的是 vacation。 (Wǒ xūyào de shì jiàqī.)
What bothered me was his attitude.
→ His attitude is the specific problem.
What I love about this city is the food.
→ The food gets the spotlight.
Variations with other wh-words
Section titled “Variations with other wh-words”| Wh-word | Example | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| What | What I need is sleep | Thing/idea |
| The thing that | The thing that annoys me is the noise | Thing (more emphatic) |
| The place where | The place where we met was a café | Location |
| The reason why | The reason why I left was the commute | Reason |
| The person who | The person who helped me was a stranger | Person |
The thing that bothers me is the constant interruptions.
The place where we first met was a tiny coffee shop.
The person who inspired me was my high school teacher.
Wh-cleft vs. it-cleft
Section titled “Wh-cleft vs. it-cleft”It was John who broke the vase.
→ Spotlight on John. “Who did it? JOHN.”
Best for: person, time, place in a past event.
What I can’t stand is people chewing loudly.
→ Spotlight on the category. “The thing I can’t stand is THIS.”
Best for: preferences, definitions, explanations.
Type 3: All-clefts — “All I want is…”
Section titled “Type 3: All-clefts — “All I want is…””A simpler wh-cleft using all:
All + subject + verb + is/was + focused element
All I want is peace and quiet.
→ Nothing else. Just peace and quiet.
我只想要安静。 (Wǒ zhǐ xiǎng yào ānjìng.)
All she did was complain.
→ That’s literally the only thing she did. (Slightly dismissive.)
All you need is love.
→ Beatles approved. 🎵
Type 4: The reason why — reason clefts
Section titled “Type 4: The reason why — reason clefts”Dedicated structure for emphasizing why:
The reason (why) + clause + is/was (that) + reason
The reason I quit was the long commute.
The reason why she was late was that the train broke down.
她迟到的原因是火车坏了。 (Tā chídào de yuányīn shì huǒchē huàile.)
Same sentence, different focus — the spotlight demo
Section titled “Same sentence, different focus — the spotlight demo”Start with: Lisa gave Tom a book at the party last night.
| Focus | Cleft type | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Who gave | It-cleft | It was Lisa who gave Tom a book at the party |
| Who received | It-cleft | It was Tom who Lisa gave a book to at the party |
| What was given | It-cleft | It was a book that Lisa gave Tom at the party |
| Where | It-cleft | It was at the party that Lisa gave Tom a book |
| When | It-cleft | It was last night that Lisa gave Tom a book |
| What happened | Wh-cleft | What Lisa did was give Tom a book |
| What Tom got | Wh-cleft | What Tom received was a book from Lisa |
| All she did | All-cleft | All Lisa did was give Tom a book |
Same event. Eight narratives. Pick the one that serves your argument.
Register and usage
Section titled “Register and usage”| Context | Cleft type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Correcting someone | It-cleft | “No, it was Sarah, not John” |
| Detective story | It-cleft | “It was the butler who did it” |
| Expressing frustration | Wh-cleft | “What I can’t stand is the hypocrisy” |
| Minimalist desire | All-cleft | “All I want is the truth” |
| Explaining decisions | Reason cleft | “The reason I moved was the pollution” |
| Academic writing | Wh-cleft | “What this study demonstrates is…” |
Cleft sentences in questions and negatives
Section titled “Cleft sentences in questions and negatives”Questions:
Was it John who broke the vase? Is it a vacation that you need?
Negatives:
It wasn’t John who broke the vase — it was Sarah. What I don’t want is more homework.
The structure stays the same — just add question inversion or negation to be.
Practice: build your cleft
Section titled “Practice: build your cleft”Start: My sister bought me a guitar for my birthday in Shanghai.
1. Emphasize WHO bought it: → It was my sister who bought me a guitar for my birthday in Shanghai.
2. Emphasize WHAT she bought: → It was a guitar that my sister bought me for my birthday in Shanghai.
3. Emphasize WHERE: → It was in Shanghai that my sister bought me a guitar for my birthday.
4. Wh-cleft — what she did: → What my sister did was buy me a guitar for my birthday.
5. All-cleft — simplicity: → All she did was buy me a guitar.
It-cleft: It + be + focus + who/that + clause
Wh-cleft: What/The thing that/The place where/The reason why + clause + be + focus
All-cleft: All + subject + verb + is/was + focus
Reason cleft: The reason (why) + clause + was (that) + explanation
Who/that: people → who · things/time/place → that
Try this right now
Section titled “Try this right now”Take a normal sentence from today: “I ate ramen for lunch at the new place.”
Pick one element and cleft it:
It was ramen that I ate for lunch at the new place. What I had for lunch was ramen. All I ate was ramen.
Feel the shift in emphasis? That’s the whole game.
Related pages:
- Relative Clauses — the who/that/which machinery inside clefts
- Inversion for Emphasis — another emphasis tool (word order)
- Basic Sentence Structure — what you’re splitting apart
- Mandarin Speaker Guide — 是…的 and focus across languages