Pseudo-cleft and It-Cleft Sentences

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In the regular sentence order of English, the subjects come before predicates and verbs come before objects. In English, there are variations in sentence order. Although these variations cause some confusion, a speaker of English can use them to highlight an important point in the sentence. For example, a speaker uses a cleft sentence as a way to focus on a special element on the sentence. A cleft sentence is a complex sentence in which a simple sentence is expressed using a main clause and a subordinate clause. Pseudo-cleft sentence and it-cleft sentence are two major types of cleft sentences.

It- cleft sentence is defined as a construction in which some element in a sentence is moved from its normal position into a separate clause to give it a greater emphasis. The form of an it- cleft sentence can be illustrated in (a). It-cleft sentence consists of it, a form of be ,a focus noun phrase, and the rest of the sentence which is placed in a relative clause. In the construction of it cleft, it is assumed that it has no meaning. It is a copula that has a functional role of linking the major constituents of the sentence. If we take, for example, a sentence like sentence (b) below , we can put more focus on the subject by using an it-cleft sentence like sentence (c). Moreover, if we take for example, a sentence like sentence ( d) below, we use an it –cleft sentence to stress an object noun phrase.

(a) It+ be+ focus+ clause.

b) John studied English literature at Oxford.

c) It was John who studied English literature at Oxford.

d) It was English literature that John studied.

Another kind of cleft sentences is the Pseudo-cleft or wh-cleft sentence. A pseudo-cleft sentence is a kind of cleft sentence in which the subord...

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