CLEFT SENTENCES

   

   - to help us focus on a particular part of the sentence and to emphasise what we want to say

   - useful in writing where we cannot use intonation but also used in speech

   

   

   It-clauses

   

   -     used to emphasize a specific subject or object

   -     the introductory clause is then followed by a relative pronoun

   

   It + be + focus + clause

   

   

   My brother bought his new car from our next-door neighbour last Saturday.

   e It was my brother who bought his new car from our neighbour last Saturday.

   e It was last Saturday when my brother bought his new car from our neighbour.

   e It was a new car that my brother bought from our neighbour last Saturday.

   e It was our next-door neighbour that my brother bought his new car from last Saturday.

   

   

   

   What-clauses

   

   -     also used to emphasize a specific subject or object

   -     the clause introduced by 'What' is employed as the subject of the sentence as is
   followed by the verb 'to be'

   

   What-clause + be + focus

   

   We need a good long shower.

   e  What we need is a good long shower.