Which one can do this?
Four questions.
1. You want to emphasise Marta in "Marta wrote the report".
2. You want to emphasise the action in "She rewrote the whole thing".
3. You want to emphasise in March.
4. So what is the division?
Eight clefts in one argument
On the consultation
It was the consultation that everybody objected to, not the decision. What the objection actually was is worth stating carefully, because it has been reported as something else.
It was not the length of the consultation that people minded; six weeks is normal. What they minded was that it closed on the day the schools went back. It was that timing, and only that, that made four hundred responses into a hundred and ten.
What the council has said in reply is that the dates were fixed by the committee calendar. That is true. It is also the reason the calendar exists, which is to say it explains the decision without defending it.
What would answer the objection is a second window in October. What has been offered instead is a summary of the responses already received.
Eight clefts from that text. Match each to what it puts in focus.
How each is built, and what each cannot do
The it-cleft
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Shape | It + is / was + focus + that / who + the rest |
| Can focus | A person, a thing, a time, a place, a reason — It was Marta who… · It was the report that… · It was in March that… · It was because of the cost that… |
| Cannot focus | A verb. |
| Linking word | that is the default; who for people. Never what. |
| Negative | It is not X that…, it is Y — the refutation shape |
| Register note | It was they who… is formal; It was them who… is normal in speech |
The wh-cleft
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Shape | What + clause + is / was + focus |
| Can focus | An action — What she did was rewrite it; a noun phrase — What I want is a decision; a clause — What worries me is that nobody asked |
| Cannot focus | A person, comfortably. |
| Variants | The thing that… · The reason why… · The place where… · All I want is… · The only thing that… |
| Reversible | A decision is what I want — same construction, focus at the front, and much rarer |
| Agreement | The verb after the wh-clause is usually singular: What worries me is the dates |
The division of labour, in one line each.
It-cleft: this one, not the others. It contrasts, and it always implies alternatives that have been ruled out.
Wh-cleft: here is the thing. It builds up and delivers, and it is the natural way to introduce something the reader has been waiting for.
Which is why refutations reach for the it-cleft and explanations reach for the wh-cleft.
Rewrite each sentence using the word given, so that the element named is in focus.
Marta wrote the report, not Ana. (focus: Marta) WAS
She rewrote the whole thing. (focus: the action) WHAT
People objected to the timing rather than the length. (focus: the timing) IT
Nobody asked us, and that is the thing I mind. (focus: the whole fact) WHAT
The consultation closed in September, and that is why the response was low. (focus: the reason) BECAUSE
A second window in October would answer the objection. (focus: the solution) WOULD
Five questions.
1. Which is correct?
2. Which is correct?
3. Which cannot be focused by an it-cleft?
4. ___ worries me is the dates.
5. Which construction implies "and not the alternatives"?
Focusing on purpose
Eight gaps. Choose the construction and the linking word.
It was the consultation everybody objected to, not the decision. they minded was the closing date. It was the schools went back that it closed, which halved the response. the council has said is that the calendar fixed the dates. true, and it explains the decision without defending it. would answer the objection is a second window. has been offered instead is a summary. the summary that people are objecting to now.
Eight sentences. Seven contain an error; one is correct.
1. It was the timing what mattered.
2. What she did was rewrote the whole thing.
3. What wrote the report was Marta.
4. It was because of the cost that we stopped. — correct as written
5. Is the sample that is weak.
6. What worries me are the dates.
7. It was run that she did, not walk.
8. What I want is that a decision.
Focus relay
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 8 minutes, fast
A says a plain sentence and names one element. B produces a cleft focusing it, in five seconds.
Twenty exchanges. Swap roles every five.
- A: "Marta sent the email on Friday" — focus: Friday. B: "It was on Friday that Marta sent the email."
- Vary the element: person, thing, time, place, reason, action, whole proposition.
- B must choose the right construction. An action or a proposition needs a wh-cleft; the rest take it.
- Note which elements produced the wrong construction. It will be actions.
Why five seconds. With longer you can work out which construction is needed, which you can already do. Five seconds tests whether the choice is automatic — and in argument it has to be, because the moment to locate a disagreement does not wait.
Which focus went wrong
Two questions.
1. Which element produced the most wrong constructions?
2. What is the repair?
This one, or here it is
Two questions. Twenty seconds.
1. What can only a wh-cleft focus?
2. What does an it-cleft always imply?
Next. When to reach for one at all — and the cost of a sentence that emphasises something nobody was going to dispute.