This article pertains to linguistics. For other uses, see cleft (disambiguation).

A cleft sentence is a sentence formed by a main clause and a subordinate clause, which together express a meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence. Clefts typically put a particular constituent into focus. This focusing is often accompanied by a special intonation.

In English, a cleft sentence can be constructed as follows:

it + conjugated form of to be + X + subordinate clause

where it is a dummy pronoun and X is usually a noun phrase (although it can also be a prepositional phrase, and in some cases an adjectival or adverbial phrase). The focus is on X, or else on the subordinate clause or some element of it. For example:

• It is Joey that we're looking for.
• It's money that I love.
• It was from John that she heard the news.
• It was meeting Jim that really started me off on this new line of work.

French

In French, a language without the capacity for stressed words based merely on pitch on volume of articulation, structures of this kind are required in order to stress a certain element;

"C'est Jean qu'on cherche." "C'est à Paris que j'habite."

References

• Finegan, Edward. 2004. Language: Its Structure and Use. 4th ed. Boston etc. Thompson. p.260-277.

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