CLEFT SENTENCES

Cleft sentences are used to add emphasis to a statement.

Cleft means ‘divided’, so what we do is to divide the statement in
two.
It is an excellent idea to use this structure both in Writing and
Speaking. In Part 1, Speaking, it is a very interesting structure to
answer supposedly very simple questions at an Advanced level.
In Cleft Sentences there is a change of word order.
There are different types:
1) IT
Instead of saying: María went to N.Y
It was María who went to N.Y.

IT + VERB TO BE + (the part that we want to emphasize) +

THAT /WHO + the rest of the statement

It is England the country that I’d love to visit if I had the

chance.

In formal English we can only use ‘that’ or ‘who’

In colloquial English we’ll hear other words such as when,
where, which.
Be careful not to use ‘what’
 2) WHAT – ALL

What María did was (to) go to N.Y.

All she did was (to) go to N.Y.
All I need is love.

What /all + (…) + verb to be + the rest of the sentence, the

part that you want to emphasize.

In this type of Cleft Sentence, the focus is at the end of the

statement, after the verb to be.

3) Other types:

The reason (why)……is/was….

The person (who)….is/was

The place (where)…is/was

The thing (that)…is/was