Cleft Sentences
Watch four videos using cleft sentences in conversation.
Conversation #1
Man: I hear Joe caused quite a storm last night.
Woman: It wasn’t Joe who caused a ruckus.
Man: Oh, really, who was it then?
Woman: It was Bill who caused trouble.
Man: Why does that not surprise me.
Woman: I know right. Shocker!
Conversation #2
Woman: How was your time in New York?
Man: Uh, I couldn’t wait to leave.
Woman: Really? Was it too crowded for your taste?
Man: No, it wasn’t the crowds that I hated.
Woman: Really, what was it.
Man: It was the constant need to spend money that I didn’t like.
Woman: Yeah, the Big Apple is expensive for sure.
Conversation #3
Man: How was the movie?
Woman: Oh, it was a letdown. Not recommended.
Man: Really, did it have a bad plot?
Woman: No, it wasn’t the story that bothered me.
Man: Then what did?
Woman: It was the overuse of special effect that I didn’t like.
Man: Sounds like I should skip it.
Woman: Yeah, I’d give it a miss.
Conversation #4
Man: I hear we lost the contract. Did you we overbid?
Woman: No, it wasn’t the price that they disliked.
Man: Really, what was it then?
Woman: It was the strict time-frame they disapproved of.
Man: Well, maybe we can counteroffer.
Woman: I doubt it. I think that ship has sailed.
Cleft Sentences
- It is Bob you should be mad at, not Joe.
- It is the heat you need to worry about, not the rain.
- It was Tim who got in trouble, not Mary.
- It was the reading part I found hard, not the listening.
- Did you see the movie? I hear the acting was bad.
- It wasn’t the acting that was bad. It was the story.
- I hear Tokyo is expensive because of high food costs.
- It’s not the food that is expensive. It’s the rent.
It + is/was + object + (that/who) + original clause
- You should be mad at Bob, not Joe.
- It is Bob you should be mad at, not Joe.
- We need to worry about the weather, not the traffic.
- It’s the weather we need to worry about, not the traffic.
It + is/was + subject + that/who + verb
- Crime was an issue. Pollution was not an issue.
- It was crime that was an issue, not pollution.
- Mary doesn’t annoy me. Matthew annoys me.
- It isn’t Mary who annoys me. It is Matthew who annoys me.
- I was really mad at Tim and Sue.
- It was Tim and Sue who I was mad at.
- I found the math problems very hard, not the grammar ones.
- It was the math problems that I found hard, not the grammar ones.
- I hear crime is a problem in the city.
- Crime is not the problem. Traffic is the problem.
- It is not crime that is the problem. It’s the traffic.
- It is the traffic that is the problem, not crime.
Why do you hate your job? Is it the low pay?
- The salary is not the problem, the commute is.
- It’s not the pay I dislike. It is the long commute.
- It is the commute I loathe, not the low pay.
- It is Bob that we distrusted.
- It is Bob who we distrusted.
- It was Bob who made us mad.
- It was the weather that caused the problem.
