Cleft Sentences

What are they? It-clefts Wh-clefts All-clefts Reason-clefts Exercises

What are cleft sentences?

A cleft sentence "splits" a simple sentence into two clauses to put emphasis on one element. In writing, where intonation isn't available, clefts do the job that stress does in speech.

Neutral: "John broke the window."
It-cleft (emphasising person): "It was John who broke the window." (not someone else)
Wh-cleft (emphasising action): "What John did was break the window."
Reason-cleft (emphasising why): "The reason he left was that he was bored."

It-clefts: It + be + focus + relative clause

Use an it-cleft to emphasise a specific element (person, thing, time, place, reason).

What we emphasise	Relative word	Example
Person	who / that	It was John who/that called.
Thing / object	that / which	It was the noise that woke me up.
Time	that / when	It was at midnight that they left.
Place	that / where	It was in Paris that they met.
Reason	that / why	It was because of the rain that we stayed in.

Tense of "be": The verb "be" matches the tense of the original sentence: ✓ "It WAS John who called." (past) · ✓ "It IS the price that worries me." (present)

Wh-clefts: What + clause + be + focus

Wh-clefts (also called "pseudo-clefts") begin with a what-clause and are used to emphasise the action or result.

Form	Example
What + subject + verb + be + noun/infinitive	What I need is a long holiday.
What + subject + did + be + to-inf / bare inf	What he did was apologise to everyone.
What + surprised / annoyed me + be + clause	What surprised me was how quickly it all happened.

Reversed wh-cleft: The focus can come first: "A long holiday is what I need." "To apologise is what he should have done."

All-clefts: All + subject + verb + be + focus

All-clefts emphasise that something is the only thing needed or wanted. They typically restrict to "all" = the minimum.

"All I need is love." (= nothing more than love)
"All I'm asking is for a little honesty."
"All they wanted was an apology."

Reason-clefts: The reason (why) + clause + be + that-clause

A reason-cleft makes the explanation itself the main point of the sentence. It has two parts: a noun phrase built on the reason, and a second part, after be, that gives the reason.

Form	Example
The reason (why) + subject + verb + be + that* + clause*	The reason I called was that I needed your help.
The reason why + subject + verb + be + that + clause	The reason why the plan failed was that nobody checked the figures.
The reason for + noun + be + noun phrase	The reason for the delay was the weather.
The main / real / only reason (+ clause) + be + that-clause	The main reason prices rose was that demand grew.

"Why" is optional: "The reason why I left was that I felt ill" and "The reason I left was that I felt ill" are both correct. Leaving out "why" is slightly more natural.

"That", not "because": In careful writing, the second part is introduced by that. "The reason I left was because I felt ill" is very common in speech, but many writers and examiners treat it as redundant, since "the reason" already means "because". Use that when you want a safe formal sentence.

Reason-cleft or it-cleft? Both emphasise a reason, but in different ways. The it-cleft puts the reason as a phrase in the middle: "It was because of the rain that we stayed in." The reason-cleft states it as a full sentence: "The reason we stayed in was that it was raining." After "the reason for", you use a noun phrase: "The reason for our staying in was the rain."