{"id":31609,"date":"2026-01-13T11:13:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?p=31609"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:13:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:13:04","slug":"cleft-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2026\/01\/cleft-sentences\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleft Sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A <strong>cleft sentence<\/strong> is used to connect\u00a0something that is already understood to a new information. A cleft sentence is a single message that is divided (cleft) into two clauses, allowing for the focus to be on the new information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>It<\/em>-Cleft Sentences<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>it<\/em>-clauses is the most common type of cleft clause. The detail that follows\u00a0<em>it<\/em>\u00a0is the information that the listener should focus on. The clause after the\u00a0<em>it-<\/em>clause is\u00a0linked by\u00a0<em>that.<\/em>\u00a0It also has information that is already understood. In informal situations when it is the object of the verb, <em>that <\/em>is omitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A: The Joneses\u2019 house was burglarized two nights ago, did it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B: No. It was&nbsp;the <strong>Sandlers\u2019 house that was burglarized<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Old information: a house was burglarized<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New information: it was the Joneses\u2019 house<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A: They\u2019ve visited Paris, haven\u2019t they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B: No, it was&nbsp;<strong>Madrid (that) they visited<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Old information:\u00a0 they visited a place<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New information: it was Madrid<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it&nbsp;<strong>Taylor Swift\u2019s concert<\/strong>&nbsp;that you are attending this weekend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Old information: you are attending a concert<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New information: Taylor Swift\u2019s concert?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Who<\/em> is used and not <em>that<\/em> if the focus is the personal subject. In informal situations when it is the object of the verb, <em>who<\/em> is omitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was my&nbsp;<strong>sister who<\/strong>&nbsp;(or that) they gave the present to.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also: It was my sister they gave the present to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A plural verb is used when a plural subject is the focus. <em>It + be<\/em> stays singular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019<strong>s<\/strong>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<strong>priests<\/strong>&nbsp;who&nbsp;<strong>were<\/strong>&nbsp;officiating their wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the&nbsp;<em>it-<\/em>clause, negative structures are used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It wasn\u2019t<\/strong>&nbsp;the American singer who won the award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Wh-Cleft Sentences<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For a <em>Wh-<\/em>cleft sentence, it is introduced by&nbsp;<em>what.<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Why, where, how<\/em>, etc. can also be used sometimes. The old information can be found in the <em>wh<\/em>-clause. The new information, on the other hand, can be found in the next clause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A: I don\u2019t know what to tell them. I don\u2019t know what they want to talk about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B: <strong>What<\/strong>\u00a0they want to talk about is\u00a0<strong>sports<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Old information: talking about what they want to speak about<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New information: they want to talk about sports<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A: The dishes in this restaurant aren\u2019t very delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B: <strong>What<\/strong>\u00a0you need to do is<strong> order their specialty. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Old information: there is something wrong with the dishes in the restaurant<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New information: you need to order their specialty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A cleft sentence is used to connect\u00a0something that is already understood to a new information. A cleft sentence is a single message that is divided (cleft) into two clauses, allowing for the focus to be on the new information. It-Cleft Sentences The it-clauses is the most common type of cleft clause. The detail that follows\u00a0it\u00a0is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cleft Sentences | phone english blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2026\/01\/cleft-sentences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cleft Sentences | phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A cleft sentence is used to connect\u00a0something that is already understood to a new information. A cleft sentence is a single message that is divided (cleft) into two clauses, allowing for the focus to be on the new information. It-Cleft Sentences The it-clauses is the most common type of cleft clause. 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