Cleft Sentences: It-Clefts, Wh-Clefts and All-Clefts.

Cleft sentences divide a message into two parts so that one element receives particular attention. Use it-clefts, wh-clefts and all-clefts to correct assumptions, identify what matters and control how information unfolds.

1.Background and focus

A cleft separates background information from focus: the part the speaker presents as especially important. The background is usually treated as established or something the listener can readily accept; it need not have been mentioned before.

Compare these versions of the same event:

Sentence	Main focus
Maya sent the revised contract on Friday.	Depends on context and spoken stress
It was Maya who sent the revised contract on Friday.	The sender
It was the revised contract that Maya sent on Friday.	The document
It was on Friday that Maya sent the revised contract.	The time

The clefts guide the listener towards a particular contrast. For example, the final sentence could correct the belief that Maya sent the contract on Thursday.

2.It-clefts: identifying a particular element

The core pattern is it + a form of be + focus + that/who + clause. The remaining clause contains a gap corresponding to the focused element.

Use who or that for a person. Use that for things and for focused time, place or reason expressions:

• It was Nadia who/that raised the objection.
• It is the cost that worries me.
• It was because the roads were flooded that we cancelled the trip.

Cleft it stays singular even when the focus is plural: It was the neighbours who complained, not It were the neighbours. Within the following clause, agreement follows its own subject: It is these details that matter.

Choose the tense of be to suit the context; it does not have to mechanically copy the tense of the following verb:

• It was Elena who called yesterday.
• It is Elena who will chair tomorrow’s meeting.

3.Wh-clefts: introducing the key information

A wh-cleft, also called a pseudo-cleft, commonly begins with what. The what-clause establishes a category or issue; the phrase after be identifies its content.

What-clause + be + focus

Communicative purpose	Example
Identify a need	What we need is a clear deadline.
Explain a reaction	What surprised me was her calm response.
Highlight a proposition	What matters is that everyone has a voice.
Identify an action	What they did was cancel the booking.

In What we need is a clear deadline, what we need means roughly the thing that we need. Do not add another that before the focused noun phrase.

When the what-clause contains do, the focused action commonly uses an infinitive with or without to:

• What I did was call the manager.
• What I did was to call the manager.

Do not extend that choice to every verb. With want, for example, retain to: What I want is to leave early.

For an action in progress, matching -ing forms are natural: What she is doing is checking the figures.

4.Reversed wh-clefts and information order

A wh-cleft often delays the most important information until the end. Reversing it places that information first:

• What we need is more time.
• More time is what we need.

The first version establishes a question or need before supplying the answer. The second starts with the answer and then connects it to the issue under discussion.

Reversing the structure changes information order, not necessarily the basic claim. Spoken stress still matters: sentence structure alone does not determine every aspect of emphasis.

5.All-clefts: limiting what is needed or done

An all-cleft uses all + clause + be + focus. Here, all means roughly the only thing or everything that is relevant. It often presents a request, action or result as limited.

Pattern	Example	Effect
All + need/want	All we need is your signature.	Presents one requirement as sufficient
All + do	All he did was restart the computer.	Limits the action described
All + happen	All that happened was that the lights went out.	Limits the event described

That is optional in All (that) we need and All (that) he did. Retain it in the neutral written pattern All that happened.

As with do-based wh-clefts, both infinitive forms are possible: All you need to do is sign here / All you need to do is to sign here.

6.Common mistakes and register choices

Do not repeat the focused element inside the remaining clause:

• Incorrect: It was the final paragraph that I rewrote it.
• Correct: It was the final paragraph that I rewrote.

Distinguish an it-cleft from a what-cleft:

• Incorrect: What we need that is more time.
• Correct: What we need is more time.
• Correct: It is more time that we need.

Keep the intended meaning when choosing between what and all:

• What she said was surprising describes her words; it is not the identifying pattern taught here.
• What she said was that the office would close identifies the content of her statement.
• All she said was that the office would close additionally limits what she said.

Clefts occur in both speech and writing. It-clefts are useful for explicit correction; wh-clefts can organise an explanation; all-clefts can simplify a request or minimise an action. None is automatically formal or informal, but repeated clefts can make prose sound unnecessarily emphatic or wordy.

7.Choose the right cleft

1. To identify or correct a particular person, thing or circumstance, choose It is/was … that/who ….
2. To establish an issue and then supply its content, choose What … is/was ….
3. To put the answer first, consider … is/was what ….
4. To present something as the only relevant need, action or result, choose All … is/was ….

Before using a cleft, ask what the reader already accepts and what deserves emphasis. If no special focus is needed, an ordinary sentence may be clearer.