Cleft sentence

A cleft sentence breaks a simple statement into two clauses in order to emphasise one part of it, turning 'the second key worked' into 'it was the second key that worked'.

The second key worked. Perfectly clear, and perfectly flat: every element gets the same stress. Cleave it in two and you can aim it.

The types of cleft sentence

• It-cleft: It was the second key that worked. Not the first one.
• Wh-cleft (pseudo-cleft): What worked was the second key.
• Reversed wh-cleft: The second key was what worked.
• All-cleft: All she wanted was a straight answer. Emphasis, with a sense of only this.

How to spot one

An it-cleft starts with it plus a form of be (it is, it was), then the stressed element, then a clause beginning that, who or which. The it refers to nothing; it is a placeholder. A wh-cleft starts with a what clause and links to the stressed element with is or was. The test: you can fold either back into one plain sentence without losing any facts. It was Sam who called is Sam called, with a spotlight added.

What it does

Each version costs a few extra words and buys one thing: the reader now knows which element is contested. Clefting is how English marks contrast without italics, and it is the neatest answer to the note this line should land harder but I do not want to bold anything.

It works particularly well in dialogue, because it is how people actually argue: It was not the lock that failed. What I asked for was a straight answer. The construction carries an implied opposition, and readers hear it.

A wh-cleft also delays its key word to the end, which gives it some of the pull of a periodic sentence: What she found in the drawer was a second passport.

The caution

Clefting adds a dummy it and an extra verb, so a page of cleft sentences reads as padded and slightly fussy. It is also a favourite of essay writing on autopilot (It is this theme that the author explores). Use it where the emphasis is genuinely in dispute. Where it is not, the plain sentence is faster, and speed is its own emphasis.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cleft sentence?

A cleft sentence takes a plain statement and splits it into two clauses so one element stands out. 'Sam broke the window' becomes 'It was Sam who broke the window', which stresses Sam and implies it was not someone else.

What are the main types of cleft sentence?

The it-cleft ('It was Sam who broke it'), the wh-cleft or pseudo-cleft ('What I need is sleep'), and the reversed wh-cleft ('Sleep is what I need'). Sentences starting 'All I want is...' work the same way.

Why is it called a cleft sentence?

To cleave means to split. The sentence is split into two parts, and the part that is placed in the spotlight is separated from the rest.