CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs skin-theme-clientpref-day mf-expand-sections-clientpref-0 mf-font-size-clientpref-small mw-mf-amc-clientpref-0" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Cleft sentence - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js skin-theme-clientpref-day mf-expand-sections-clientpref-0 mf-font-size-clientpref-small mw-mf-amc-clientpref-0";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy","wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"2bbcd58e-14ae-4f3f-9198-08504435c8a6","wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Cleft_sentence","wgTitle":"Cleft sentence","wgCurRevisionId":1255489126,"wgRevisionId":1255489126,"wgArticleId":867851, "wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Cleft_sentence","wgRelevantArticleId":867851,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgRedirectedFrom":"Clefting","wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFMode":"stable","wgMFAmc":false,"wgMFAmcOutreachActive":false,"wgMFAmcOutreachUserEligible":false,"wgMFLazyLoadImages":true,"wgMFEditNoticesFeatureConflict":false,"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgMFIsSupportedEditRequest":true, "wgMFScriptPath":"","wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":30000,"wgInternalRedirectTargetUrl":"/wiki/Cleft_sentence","wgRelatedArticlesCompat":[],"wgCentralAuthMobileDomain":true,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgSectionTranslationMissingLanguages":[{"lang":"ace","autonym":"Acèh","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ady","autonym":"адыгабзэ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"alt","autonym":"алтай тил","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"am","autonym":"አማርኛ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ami","autonym":"Pangcah","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"an","autonym":"aragonés","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ang","autonym":"Ænglisc","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ann","autonym":"Obolo","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"anp","autonym":"अंगिका","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ar","autonym":"العربية","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"ary","autonym":"الدارجة","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"arz","autonym":"مصرى","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"as","autonym":"অসমীয়া","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ast","autonym":"asturianu","dir":"ltr"} ,{"lang":"av","autonym":"авар","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"avk","autonym":"Kotava","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"awa","autonym":"अवधी","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ay","autonym":"Aymar aru","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"az","autonym":"azərbaycanca","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"azb","autonym":"تۆرکجه","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"ba","autonym":"башҡортса","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ban","autonym":"Basa Bali","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bar","autonym":"Boarisch","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bbc","autonym":"Batak Toba","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bcl","autonym":"Bikol Central","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bdr","autonym":"Bajau Sama","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"be","autonym":"беларуская","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bew","autonym":"Betawi","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bg","autonym":"български","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bho","autonym":"भोजपुरी","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bi","autonym":"Bislama","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bjn","autonym":"Banjar","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"blk","autonym":"ပအိုဝ်ႏဘာႏသာႏ","dir":"ltr"},{ "lang":"bm","autonym":"bamanankan","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bn","autonym":"বাংলা","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bo","autonym":"བོད་ཡིག","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bpy","autonym":"বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"br","autonym":"brezhoneg","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bs","autonym":"bosanski","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"btm","autonym":"Batak Mandailing","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"bug","autonym":"Basa Ugi","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ca","autonym":"català","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"cdo","autonym":"閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ce","autonym":"нохчийн","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ceb","autonym":"Cebuano","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ch","autonym":"Chamoru","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"chr","autonym":"ᏣᎳᎩ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ckb","autonym":"کوردی","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"co","autonym":"corsu","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"cr","autonym":"Nēhiyawēwin / ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"crh","autonym":"qırımtatarca","dir":"ltr"}, {"lang":"cu","autonym":"словѣньскъ / ⰔⰎⰑⰂⰡⰐⰠⰔⰍⰟ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"cy","autonym":"Cymraeg","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"da","autonym":"dansk","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"dag","autonym":"dagbanli","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"dga","autonym":"Dagaare","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"din","autonym":"Thuɔŋjäŋ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"diq","autonym":"Zazaki","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"dsb","autonym":"dolnoserbski","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"dtp","autonym":"Kadazandusun","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"dv","autonym":"ދިވެހިބަސް","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"dz","autonym":"ཇོང་ཁ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ee","autonym":"eʋegbe","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"el","autonym":"Ελληνικά","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"eml","autonym":"emiliàn e rumagnòl","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"es","autonym":"español","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"et","autonym":"eesti","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"eu","autonym":"euskara","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"fa","autonym":"فارسی","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"fat","autonym":"mfantse","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ff", "autonym":"Fulfulde","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"fi","autonym":"suomi","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"fj","autonym":"Na Vosa Vakaviti","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"fo","autonym":"føroyskt","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"fon","autonym":"fɔ̀ngbè","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"frp","autonym":"arpetan","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"frr","autonym":"Nordfriisk","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"fur","autonym":"furlan","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"fy","autonym":"Frysk","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gag","autonym":"Gagauz","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gan","autonym":"贛語","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gcr","autonym":"kriyòl gwiyannen","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gl","autonym":"galego","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"glk","autonym":"گیلکی","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"gn","autonym":"Avañe'ẽ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gom","autonym":"गोंयची कोंकणी / Gõychi Konknni","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gor","autonym":"Bahasa Hulontalo","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gpe","autonym":"Ghanaian Pidgin","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gu","autonym":"ગુજરાતી","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"guc","autonym" :"wayuunaiki","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gur","autonym":"farefare","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"guw","autonym":"gungbe","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"gv","autonym":"Gaelg","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ha","autonym":"Hausa","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"hak","autonym":"客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"haw","autonym":"Hawaiʻi","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"he","autonym":"עברית","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"hi","autonym":"हिन्दी","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"hif","autonym":"Fiji Hindi","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"hr","autonym":"hrvatski","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"hsb","autonym":"hornjoserbsce","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ht","autonym":"Kreyòl ayisyen","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"hu","autonym":"magyar","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"hy","autonym":"հայերեն","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"hyw","autonym":"Արեւմտահայերէն","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ia","autonym":"interlingua","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"iba","autonym":"Jaku Iban","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ie","autonym":"Interlingue","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ig","autonym":"Igbo","dir":"ltr"},{"lang": "igl","autonym":"Igala","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ilo","autonym":"Ilokano","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"io","autonym":"Ido","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"is","autonym":"íslenska","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"iu","autonym":"ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ / inuktitut","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"jam","autonym":"Patois","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"jv","autonym":"Jawa","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ka","autonym":"ქართული","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kaa","autonym":"Qaraqalpaqsha","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kab","autonym":"Taqbaylit","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kbd","autonym":"адыгэбзэ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kbp","autonym":"Kabɩyɛ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kcg","autonym":"Tyap","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kg","autonym":"Kongo","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kge","autonym":"Kumoring","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ki","autonym":"Gĩkũyũ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kk","autonym":"қазақша","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kl","autonym":"kalaallisut","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"km","autonym":"ភាសាខ្មែរ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kn","autonym":"ಕನ್ನಡ","dir": "ltr"},{"lang":"koi","autonym":"перем коми","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"krc","autonym":"къарачай-малкъар","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ks","autonym":"कॉशुर / کٲشُر","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"ku","autonym":"kurdî","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kus","autonym":"Kʋsaal","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kv","autonym":"коми","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"kw","autonym":"kernowek","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ky","autonym":"кыргызча","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lad","autonym":"Ladino","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lb","autonym":"Lëtzebuergesch","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lez","autonym":"лезги","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lg","autonym":"Luganda","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"li","autonym":"Limburgs","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lij","autonym":"Ligure","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lld","autonym":"Ladin","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lmo","autonym":"lombard","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ln","autonym":"lingála","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lo","autonym":"ລາວ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lt","autonym":"lietuvių","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ltg","autonym": "latgaļu","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"lv","autonym":"latviešu","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mad","autonym":"Madhurâ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mai","autonym":"मैथिली","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"map-bms","autonym":"Basa Banyumasan","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mdf","autonym":"мокшень","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mg","autonym":"Malagasy","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mhr","autonym":"олык марий","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mi","autonym":"Māori","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"min","autonym":"Minangkabau","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mk","autonym":"македонски","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ml","autonym":"മലയാളം","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mn","autonym":"монгол","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mni","autonym":"ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯂꯣꯟ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mnw","autonym":"ဘာသာမန်","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mos","autonym":"moore","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mr","autonym":"मराठी","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mrj","autonym":"кырык мары","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ms","autonym":"Bahasa Melayu","dir":"ltr"},{"lang" :"mt","autonym":"Malti","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mwl","autonym":"Mirandés","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"my","autonym":"မြန်မာဘာသာ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"myv","autonym":"эрзянь","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"mzn","autonym":"مازِرونی","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"nah","autonym":"Nāhuatl","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nan","autonym":"閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gú","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nap","autonym":"Napulitano","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nb","autonym":"norsk bokmål","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nds","autonym":"Plattdüütsch","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nds-nl","autonym":"Nedersaksies","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ne","autonym":"नेपाली","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"new","autonym":"नेपाल भाषा","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nia","autonym":"Li Niha","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nl","autonym":"Nederlands","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nn","autonym":"norsk nynorsk","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nqo","autonym":"ߒߞߏ","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"nr","autonym":"isiNdebele seSewula","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"nso","autonym": "Sesotho sa Leboa","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ny","autonym":"Chi-Chewa","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"oc","autonym":"occitan","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"om","autonym":"Oromoo","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"or","autonym":"ଓଡ଼ିଆ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"os","autonym":"ирон","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pa","autonym":"ਪੰਜਾਬੀ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pag","autonym":"Pangasinan","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pam","autonym":"Kapampangan","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pap","autonym":"Papiamentu","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pcd","autonym":"Picard","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pcm","autonym":"Naijá","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pdc","autonym":"Deitsch","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pl","autonym":"polski","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pms","autonym":"Piemontèis","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pnb","autonym":"پنجابی","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"ps","autonym":"پښتو","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"pt","autonym":"português","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"pwn","autonym":"pinayuanan","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"qu","autonym":"Runa Simi","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"rm","autonym":"rumantsch", "dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"rn","autonym":"ikirundi","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ro","autonym":"română","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"rsk","autonym":"руски","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"rue","autonym":"русиньскый","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"rup","autonym":"armãneashti","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"rw","autonym":"Ikinyarwanda","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sa","autonym":"संस्कृतम्","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sah","autonym":"саха тыла","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sat","autonym":"ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sc","autonym":"sardu","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"scn","autonym":"sicilianu","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sco","autonym":"Scots","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sd","autonym":"سنڌي","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"se","autonym":"davvisámegiella","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sg","autonym":"Sängö","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sgs","autonym":"žemaitėška","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sh","autonym":"srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"shi","autonym":"Taclḥit","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"shn","autonym": "ၽႃႇသႃႇတႆး ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"si","autonym":"සිංහල","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sk","autonym":"slovenčina","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"skr","autonym":"سرائیکی","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"sl","autonym":"slovenščina","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sm","autonym":"Gagana Samoa","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"smn","autonym":"anarâškielâ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sn","autonym":"chiShona","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"so","autonym":"Soomaaliga","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sq","autonym":"shqip","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sr","autonym":"српски / srpski","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"srn","autonym":"Sranantongo","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ss","autonym":"SiSwati","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"st","autonym":"Sesotho","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"stq","autonym":"Seeltersk","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"su","autonym":"Sunda","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sv","autonym":"svenska","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"sw","autonym":"Kiswahili","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"szl","autonym":"ślůnski","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ta","autonym":"தமிழ்","dir":"ltr"},{"lang": "tay","autonym":"Tayal","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tcy","autonym":"ತುಳು","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tdd","autonym":"ᥖᥭᥰ ᥖᥬᥲ ᥑᥨᥒᥰ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"te","autonym":"తెలుగు","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tet","autonym":"tetun","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tg","autonym":"тоҷикӣ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"th","autonym":"ไทย","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ti","autonym":"ትግርኛ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tk","autonym":"Türkmençe","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tl","autonym":"Tagalog","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tly","autonym":"tolışi","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tn","autonym":"Setswana","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"to","autonym":"lea faka-Tonga","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tpi","autonym":"Tok Pisin","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tr","autonym":"Türkçe","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"trv","autonym":"Seediq","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ts","autonym":"Xitsonga","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tt","autonym":"татарча / tatarça","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tum","autonym":"chiTumbuka","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tw","autonym":"Twi","dir":"ltr" },{"lang":"ty","autonym":"reo tahiti","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"tyv","autonym":"тыва дыл","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"udm","autonym":"удмурт","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ur","autonym":"اردو","dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"uz","autonym":"oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"ve","autonym":"Tshivenda","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"vec","autonym":"vèneto","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"vep","autonym":"vepsän kel’","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"vi","autonym":"Tiếng Việt","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"vls","autonym":"West-Vlams","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"vo","autonym":"Volapük","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"vro","autonym":"võro","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"wa","autonym":"walon","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"war","autonym":"Winaray","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"wo","autonym":"Wolof","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"wuu","autonym":"吴语","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"xal","autonym":"хальмг","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"xh","autonym":"isiXhosa","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"xmf","autonym":"მარგალური","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"yi","autonym":"ייִדיש", "dir":"rtl"},{"lang":"yo","autonym":"Yorùbá","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"yue","autonym":"粵語","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"za","autonym":"Vahcuengh","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"zgh","autonym":"ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"zh","autonym":"中文","dir":"ltr"},{"lang":"zu","autonym":"isiZulu","dir":"ltr"}],"wgSectionTranslationTargetLanguages":["ace","ady","alt","am","ami","an","ang","ann","anp","ar","ary","arz","as","ast","av","avk","awa","ay","az","azb","ba","ban","bar","bbc","bcl","bdr","be","bew","bg","bho","bi","bjn","blk","bm","bn","bo","bpy","br","bs","btm","bug","ca","cdo","ce","ceb","ch","chr","ckb","co","cr","crh","cs","cu","cy","da","dag","de","dga","din","diq","dsb","dtp","dv","dz","ee","el","eml","eo","es","et","eu","fa","fat","ff","fi","fj","fo","fon","fr","frp","frr","fur","fy","gag","gan","gcr","gl","glk","gn","gom","gor","gpe","gu","guc","gur","guw","gv","ha","hak","haw","he","hi","hif","hr","hsb","ht","hu","hy","hyw","ia","iba","ie","ig", "igl","ilo","io","is","it","iu","ja","jam","jv","ka","kaa","kab","kbd","kbp","kcg","kg","kge","ki","kk","kl","km","kn","ko","koi","krc","ks","ku","kus","kv","kw","ky","lad","lb","lez","lg","li","lij","lld","lmo","ln","lo","lt","ltg","lv","mad","mai","map-bms","mdf","mg","mhr","mi","min","mk","ml","mn","mni","mnw","mos","mr","mrj","ms","mt","mwl","my","myv","mzn","nah","nan","nap","nb","nds","nds-nl","ne","new","nia","nl","nn","nqo","nr","nso","ny","oc","om","or","os","pa","pag","pam","pap","pcd","pcm","pdc","pl","pms","pnb","ps","pt","pwn","qu","rm","rn","ro","rsk","rue","rup","rw","sa","sah","sat","sc","scn","sco","sd","se","sg","sgs","sh","shi","shn","si","sk","skr","sl","sm","smn","sn","so","sq","sr","srn","ss","st","stq","su","sv","sw","szl","ta","tay","tcy","tdd","te","tet","tg","th","ti","tk","tl","tly","tn","to","tpi","tr","trv","ts","tt","tum","tw","ty","tyv","udm","ur","uz","ve","vec","vep","vi","vls","vo","vro","wa","war","wo","wuu","xal","xh","xmf","yi","yo","yue","za","zgh" ,"zh","zu"],"isLanguageSearcherCXEntrypointEnabled":true,"mintEntrypointLanguages":["ace","ast","azb","bcl","bjn","bh","crh","ff","fon","ig","is","ki","ks","lmo","min","sat","ss","tn","vec"],"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q489763","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"],"GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false,"wgGEStructuredTaskRejectionReasonTextInputEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false,"wgMinervaPermissions":{"watchable":true,"watch":false},"wgMinervaFeatures":{"beta":false,"donate":true,"mobileOptionsLink":true,"categories":false,"pageIssues":true,"talkAtTop":true,"historyInPageActions":false,"overflowSubmenu":false,"tabsOnSpecials":true,"personalMenu":false,"mainMenuExpanded":false,"echo":true,"nightMode":true},"wgMinervaDownloadNamespaces":[0]};RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready", "ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.minerva.styles":"ready","skins.minerva.content.styles.images":"ready","mediawiki.hlist":"ready","skins.minerva.codex.styles":"ready","skins.minerva.icons":"ready","skins.minerva.amc.styles":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","mobile.init.styles":"ready","ext.relatedArticles.styles":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.wikimediaBadges":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["mediawiki.action.view.redirect","ext.cite.ux-enhancements","mediawiki.page.media","site","mediawiki.page.ready","skins.minerva.scripts","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","ext.popups","mobile.init","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.relatedArticles.readMore.bootstrap","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","ext.cx.entrypoints.mffrequentlanguages", "ext.cx.entrypoints.languagesearcher.init","mw.externalguidance.init","ext.checkUser.clientHints","ext.quicksurveys.init","ext.growthExperiments.SuggestedEditSession","wikibase.sidebar.tracking"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.relatedArticles.styles%7Cext.wikimediaBadges%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cmediawiki.hlist%7Cmobile.init.styles%7Cskins.minerva.amc.styles%7Cskins.minerva.codex.styles%7Cskins.minerva.content.styles.images%7Cskins.minerva.icons%2Cstyles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=minerva"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=minerva"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=minerva"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.4"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="theme-color" content="#eaecf0"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes, minimum-scale=0.25, maximum-scale=5.0"> <meta property="og:title" content="Cleft sentence - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="manifest" href="/w/api.php?action=webapp-manifest"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleft_sentence"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Cleft_sentence rootpage-Cleft_sentence stable issues-group-B skin-minerva action-view skin--responsive mw-mf-amc-disabled mw-mf"><div id="mw-mf-viewport"> <div id="mw-mf-page-center"> <a class="mw-mf-page-center__mask" href="#"></a> <header class="header-container header-chrome"> <div class="minerva-header"> <nav class="navigation-drawer toggle-list view-border-box"> <input type="checkbox" id="main-menu-input" class="toggle-list__checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" aria-labelledby="mw-mf-main-menu-button"> <label role="button" for="main-menu-input" id="mw-mf-main-menu-button" aria-hidden="true" data-event-name="ui.mainmenu" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet toggle-list__toggle"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--menu"></span> <span></span> </label> <div id="mw-mf-page-left" class="menu view-border-box"> <ul id="p-navigation" class="toggle-list__list"> <li class="toggle-list-item "> <a class="toggle-list-item__anchor menu__item--home" href="/wiki/Main_Page" data-mw="interface"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--home"></span> <span class="toggle-list-item__label">Home</span> </a> </li> <li class="toggle-list-item "> <a class="toggle-list-item__anchor menu__item--random" href="/wiki/Special:Random" data-mw="interface"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--die"></span> <span class="toggle-list-item__label">Random</span> </a> </li> <li class="toggle-list-item skin-minerva-list-item-jsonly"> <a class="toggle-list-item__anchor menu__item--nearby" href="/wiki/Special:Nearby" data-event-name="menu.nearby" data-mw="interface"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--mapPin"></span> <span class="toggle-list-item__label">Nearby</span> </a> </li> </ul> <ul id="p-personal" class="toggle-list__list"> <li class="toggle-list-item "> <a class="toggle-list-item__anchor menu__item--login" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Cleft+sentence" data-event-name="menu.login" data-mw="interface"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--logIn"></span> <span class="toggle-list-item__label">Log in</span> </a> </li> </ul> <ul id="pt-preferences" class="toggle-list__list"> <li class="toggle-list-item skin-minerva-list-item-jsonly"> <a class="toggle-list-item__anchor menu__item--settings" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:MobileOptions&returnto=Cleft+sentence" data-event-name="menu.settings" data-mw="interface"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--settings"></span> <span class="toggle-list-item__label">Settings</span> </a> </li> </ul> <ul id="p-donation" class="toggle-list__list"> <li class="toggle-list-item "> <a class="toggle-list-item__anchor menu__item--donate" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en&utm_key=minerva" data-event-name="menu.donate" data-mw="interface"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--heart"></span> <span class="toggle-list-item__label">Donate</span> </a> </li> </ul> <ul class="hlist"> <li class="toggle-list-item "> <a class="toggle-list-item__anchor menu__item--about" href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" data-mw="interface"> <span class="toggle-list-item__label">About Wikipedia</span> </a> </li> <li class="toggle-list-item "> <a class="toggle-list-item__anchor menu__item--disclaimers" href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer" data-mw="interface"> <span class="toggle-list-item__label">Disclaimers</span> </a> </li> </ul> </div> <label class="main-menu-mask" for="main-menu-input"></label> </nav> <div class="branding-box"> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page"> <span><img src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" alt="Wikipedia" width="120" height="18" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"/> </span> </a> </div> <form action="/w/index.php" method="get" class="minerva-search-form"> <div class="search-box"> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"/> <input class="search skin-minerva-search-trigger" id="searchInput" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"> <span class="search-box-icon-overlay"><span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--search"></span> </span> </div> <button id="searchIcon" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet skin-minerva-search-trigger"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--search"></span> <span>Search</span> </button> </form> <nav class="minerva-user-navigation" aria-label="User navigation"> </nav> </div> </header> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <div class="banner-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="pre-content heading-holder"> <div class="page-heading"> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleft sentence</span></h1> <div class="tagline"></div> </div> <ul id="p-associated-pages" class="minerva__tab-container"> <li class="minerva__tab selected"> <a class="minerva__tab-text" href="/wiki/Cleft_sentence" rel="" data-event-name="tabs.subject">Article</a> </li> <li class="minerva__tab "> <a class="minerva__tab-text" href="/wiki/Talk:Cleft_sentence" rel="discussion" data-event-name="tabs.talk">Talk</a> </li> </ul> <nav class="page-actions-menu"> <ul id="p-views" class="page-actions-menu__list"> <li id="language-selector" class="page-actions-menu__list-item"> <a role="button" href="#p-lang" data-mw="interface" data-event-name="menu.languages" title="Language" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet language-selector"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--language"></span> <span>Language</span> </a> </li> <li id="page-actions-watch" class="page-actions-menu__list-item"> <a role="button" id="ca-watch" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Cleft+sentence" data-event-name="menu.watch" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet menu__item--page-actions-watch"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--star"></span> <span>Watch</span> </a> </li> <li id="page-actions-edit" class="page-actions-menu__list-item"> <a role="button" id="ca-edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit" data-event-name="menu.edit" data-mw="interface" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet edit-page menu__item--page-actions-edit"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>Edit</span> </a> </li> </ul> </nav>  <div id="mw-content-subtitle"><span class="mw-redirectedfrom">(Redirected from <a href="/w/index.php?title=Clefting&redirect=no" class="mw-redirect" title="Clefting">Clefting</a>)</span></div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="content"> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><script>function mfTempOpenSection(id){var block=document.getElementById("mf-section-"+id);block.className+=" open-block";block.previousSibling.className+=" open-block";}</script><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><section class="mf-section-0" id="mf-section-0"> <p>A <b>cleft sentence</b> is a <a href="/wiki/Complex_sentence" class="mw-redirect" title="Complex sentence">complex sentence</a> (one having a main clause and a <a href="/wiki/Dependent_clause" title="Dependent clause">dependent clause</a>) that has a meaning that could be expressed by a <a href="/wiki/Simple_sentence" class="mw-redirect" title="Simple sentence">simple sentence</a>. Clefts typically put a particular <a href="/wiki/Constituent_(linguistics)" title="Constituent (linguistics)">constituent</a> into <a href="/wiki/Focus_(linguistics)" title="Focus (linguistics)">focus</a>. In <a href="/wiki/Spoken_language" title="Spoken language">spoken language</a>, this focusing is often accompanied by a special <a href="/wiki/Intonation_(linguistics)" title="Intonation (linguistics)">intonation</a>. </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a>, a cleft sentence can be constructed as follows: </p> <dl><dd><i>it</i> + conjugated form of <i>to be</i> + <i>X</i> + subordinate clause</dd></dl> <p>where <i>it</i> is a cleft pronoun and <i>X</i> is usually a <a href="/wiki/Noun_phrase" title="Noun phrase">noun phrase</a> (although it can also be a <a href="/wiki/Prepositional_phrase" class="mw-redirect" title="Prepositional phrase">prepositional phrase</a>, and in some cases an adjectival or adverbial phrase). The focus is on <i>X</i>, or else on the subordinate clause or some element of it. For example: </p> <ul><li><i>It's Joey (whom) we're looking for.</i></li> <li><i>It's money that I love.</i></li> <li><i>It was from John that she heard the news.</i></li></ul> <p>Furthermore, one might also describe a cleft sentence as inverted. That is to say, it has its dependent clause in front of the main clause. So, rather than (for example): </p> <ul><li><i>We didn't meet her until we arrived at the hotel.</i></li></ul> <p>the cleft would be: </p> <ul><li><i>It wasn't until we arrived at the hotel that</i> (or <i>when</i>) <i>we met her.</i></li></ul> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none"><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Types"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Types</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2"><a href="#It-cleft"><span class="tocnumber">1.1</span> <span class="toctext">It-cleft</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="#Wh-cleft/Pseudo-cleft"><span class="tocnumber">1.2</span> <span class="toctext">Wh-cleft/Pseudo-cleft</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#Reversed_wh-cleft/Inverted_pseudo-cleft"><span class="tocnumber">1.3</span> <span class="toctext">Reversed wh-cleft/Inverted pseudo-cleft</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#All-cleft"><span class="tocnumber">1.4</span> <span class="toctext">All-cleft</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="#Inferential_cleft"><span class="tocnumber">1.5</span> <span class="toctext">Inferential cleft</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="#There-cleft"><span class="tocnumber">1.6</span> <span class="toctext">There-cleft</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#If-because_cleft"><span class="tocnumber">1.7</span> <span class="toctext">If-because cleft</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="#Other_languages"><span class="tocnumber">1.8</span> <span class="toctext">Other languages</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10"><a href="#Structural_issues"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Structural issues</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="#Information_structure"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Information structure</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12"><a href="#Other_languages_2"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Other languages</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13"><a href="#Mandarin"><span class="tocnumber">4.1</span> <span class="toctext">Mandarin</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14"><a href="#Spanish"><span class="tocnumber">4.2</span> <span class="toctext">Spanish</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15"><a href="#French"><span class="tocnumber">4.3</span> <span class="toctext">French</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16"><a href="#Japanese"><span class="tocnumber">4.4</span> <span class="toctext">Japanese</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17"><a href="#Goidelic_languages"><span class="tocnumber">4.5</span> <span class="toctext">Goidelic languages</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18"><a href="#Tagalog"><span class="tocnumber">4.6</span> <span class="toctext">Tagalog</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19"><a href="#Notes"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(1)"><span class="indicator mf-icon mf-icon-expand mf-icon--small"></span><h2 id="Types">Types</h2><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Types" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div><section class="mf-section-1 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-1"> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img alt='Syntax tree for the it-cleft sentence: "It was John that Mary saw"' src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png/166px-It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png" decoding="async" width="166" height="155" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="411" data-file-height="384"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 166px;height: 155px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png/166px-It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png" data-alt='Syntax tree for the it-cleft sentence: "It was John that Mary saw"' data-width="166" data-height="155" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png/249px-It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png/332px-It-Cleft_Sentence_Tree.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>It-Cleft sentence: "<i>It was John that Mary saw.</i>"</figcaption></figure><figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img alt='Syntax Tree for Wh-Cleft/Pseudo-Cleft sentence: "What Mary bought was a first edition"' src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png/195px-Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png" decoding="async" width="195" height="111" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="507" data-file-height="288"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 195px;height: 111px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png/195px-Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png" data-alt='Syntax Tree for Wh-Cleft/Pseudo-Cleft sentence: "What Mary bought was a first edition"' data-width="195" data-height="111" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png/293px-Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png/390px-Wh-Cleft-Pseudo-Cleft_Syntax_Tree.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>Wh-Cleft/Pseudo-Cleft sentence: "<i>What Mary bought was a first edition.</i>"</figcaption></figure> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img alt='Syntax Tree for Reversed Wh-Cleft/Inverted/Pseudo-cleft sentence: "Alice was who John was talking to."' src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png/207px-Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png" decoding="async" width="207" height="162" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="491" data-file-height="384"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 207px;height: 162px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png/207px-Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png" data-alt='Syntax Tree for Reversed Wh-Cleft/Inverted/Pseudo-cleft sentence: "Alice was who John was talking to."' data-width="207" data-height="162" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png/311px-Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png/414px-Syntax_Tree_for_Reversed_wh-cleft-inverted_pseudo-cleft.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>Reversed Wh-Cleft/Inverted/Pseudo-Cleft sentence: "<i>Alice was who John was talking to</i>."</figcaption></figure><p>English is very rich in cleft constructions. Below are examples of some types of clefts found in English, though the list is not exhaustive. See Lambrecht 2001 for a comprehensive survey, Collins 1991 for an in-depth analysis of it-clefts and wh-clefts in English, and Calude 2009 for an investigation of clefts in spoken English. </p><div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="It-cleft">It-cleft</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: It-cleft" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>In English, it-clefts consist of the pronoun <i>it</i>, followed by a form of the verb <i>to be</i>, a cleft constituent, and a complementizer, which introduces a relative clause that is attributed to the cleft phrase.<sup id="cite_ref-AutoDU-1_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-AutoDU-1-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It-clefts introduce two meanings parts: (1) a presupposition that the property in the clause following the complementiser holds of some entity; and (ii) an assertion that this property holds of the entity denoted by the cleft constituent.<sup id="cite_ref-AutoDU-1_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-AutoDU-1-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ul><li><b>English it-cleft:</b> <i>It was John that Mary saw.</i><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Wh-cleft/Pseudo-cleft"><span id="Wh-cleft.2FPseudo-cleft"></span>Wh-cleft/Pseudo-cleft</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Wh-cleft/Pseudo-cleft" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>In English, pseudo-clefts consist of an interrogative clause in the subject position, followed by a form of the verb <i>be</i>, followed by the focused element that appears at the end of the sentence.<sup id="cite_ref-Sportiche_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sportiche-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The prototypical pseudo-cleft construction uses <i>what</i>, while other <a href="/wiki/Interrogative_word" title="Interrogative word">wh-words</a> like <i>who</i>, <i>where</i> etc. and their <a href="/wiki/Pro-form" title="Pro-form">pro-form</a> equivalents like <i>thing</i>, <i>one</i>, <i>place</i> etc. are used less frequently.<sup id="cite_ref-Collins_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Collins-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Pseudo-clefts are tools for presenting and highlighting new information, serving as the building blocks of a coherent discourse progression, and a rhetorical toolkit to construct an authorial stance, being a grammatical resource for making evaluative meaning.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Vagueness" title="Wikipedia:Vagueness"><span title="This information is too vague. (March 2023)">vague</span></a></i>]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ul><li><b>English wh-cleft/pseudo-cleft:</b> <i>What Mary bought was a first edition.</i><sup id="cite_ref-Sportiche_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sportiche-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Reversed_wh-cleft/Inverted_pseudo-cleft"><span id="Reversed_wh-cleft.2FInverted_pseudo-cleft"></span>Reversed wh-cleft/Inverted pseudo-cleft</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Reversed wh-cleft/Inverted pseudo-cleft" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>In English, an inverted pseudo-cleft consists of the identical structure to pseudoclefting, however, the two strings around the verb <i>be</i> are inverted.<sup id="cite_ref-Sportiche_3-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sportiche-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The focus element has been brought to the front of the sentence, and the clause is sentence final.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ul><li><b>English reversed wh-cleft/inverted pseudo-cleft:</b></li></ul> <ol><li><i>A Fiat is what he wanted to buy.</i><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li><i>Alice was who John was talking to.</i><sup id="cite_ref-Sportiche_3-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sportiche-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="All-cleft">All-cleft</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: All-cleft" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div><p> In English, all-cleft sentences are related to pseudo-clefts in which they are constructed with the subject of the sentence embedded in the phrase and expressed with the verb "to be".<sup id="cite_ref-BONELLI_30–42_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-BONELLI_30%E2%80%9342-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Where pseudo-clefts begin with a wh-phrase (<i>what</i>, <i>where</i>, <i>who</i>), all-clefts begin with the use of the word "all".<sup id="cite_ref-BONELLI_30–42_8-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-BONELLI_30%E2%80%9342-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p><figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png/214px-Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png" decoding="async" width="214" height="143" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="431" data-file-height="288"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 214px;height: 143px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png/214px-Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png" data-width="214" data-height="143" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png/321px-Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png/428px-Syntax_Tree_for_All-Cleft.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>All Cleft sentence: "<i>All they want is a holiday."</i></figcaption></figure> <ul><li><b>English <i>all</i>-cleft:</b></li></ul> <ol><li><i>All he wanted to buy was a Fiat.</i><sup id="cite_ref-iojet.org_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-iojet.org-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li><i>All they want is a holiday.</i><sup id="cite_ref-BONELLI_30–42_8-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-BONELLI_30%E2%80%9342-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Inferential_cleft">Inferential cleft</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Inferential cleft" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>In English, inferential clefts involve a subordinate clause that is embedded as a complement of the verb "to be", and the sentence begins with the subject "it".<sup id="cite_ref-:0_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Oftentimes, an inferential cleft will include an adverb such as <i>only, simply</i> or <i>just.</i><sup id="cite_ref-:0_10-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> While they are analyzed in written text, data on inferential clefts are often found in spoken language and act as a subordinate clause of the subject they are inferring.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ul><li><b>English inferential cleft:</b><figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_tree_for_Inferential_Cleft_(ex._2).png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Syntax_tree_for_Inferential_Cleft_%28ex._2%29.png/197px-Syntax_tree_for_Inferential_Cleft_%28ex._2%29.png" decoding="async" width="197" height="145" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="326" data-file-height="240"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 197px;height: 145px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Syntax_tree_for_Inferential_Cleft_%28ex._2%29.png/197px-Syntax_tree_for_Inferential_Cleft_%28ex._2%29.png" data-width="197" data-height="145" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Syntax_tree_for_Inferential_Cleft_%28ex._2%29.png/296px-Syntax_tree_for_Inferential_Cleft_%28ex._2%29.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Syntax_tree_for_Inferential_Cleft_%28ex._2%29.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>Inferential Cleft sentence: "<i>It was just that it was raining.</i>"</figcaption></figure></li></ul> <ol><li><i>It is not that he loves her. It's just that he has a way with her that is different.</i><sup id="cite_ref-iojet.org_9-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-iojet.org-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li><i>It was just that it was raining.</i><sup id="cite_ref-:0_10-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="There-cleft">There-cleft</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: There-cleft" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>Looking at existential sentences, in all languages, they are understood to belong to a grammatically distinct construction, which is utilized to express existential positions. Cleft-sentences in English contain existential sentences that have a <i>dummy there</i> as a subject, <i>be</i> as a main verb, and an NP in the post-verbal complement position. To elaborate, <i>dummy there</i> can be distinguished as an adverbial, pronoun, and subject. Likewise, <i>be</i> can be distinguished as a main verb, and may contain other intransitive verbs such as <i>come</i>, <i>remain</i>, <i>exist</i>, <i>arise</i>, and <i>stand</i>. Lastly, <i>post-verbal NP</i> depends on the discourse of the entity or entities that refer to the novel information it is expressing.<sup id="cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Cleft_existential_in_English-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png/240px-Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png" decoding="async" width="240" height="172" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="535" data-file-height="384"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 240px;height: 172px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png/240px-Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png" data-width="240" data-height="172" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png/360px-Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png/480px-Syntax_Tree_for_There-Cleft.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>There-Cleft sentence: "<i>And then there's a new house he wanted to build</i>."</figcaption></figure> <ul><li><b>English dummy <i>there</i>-cleft:</b></li></ul> <ol><li><i>There's nobody there.</i><sup id="cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Cleft_existential_in_English-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li><i>There seemed to be nothing he couldn't do.</i><sup id="cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Cleft_existential_in_English-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ol> <ul><li><b>English <i>be there</i>-cleft:</b> <i>There comes a stage when a player should move on.</i><sup id="cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Cleft_existential_in_English-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li><b>English post-verbal NP <i>there</i>-cleft:</b> <i>There was George Talbot and there was Ted.</i><sup id="cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Cleft_existential_in_English-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li><b>English <i>there</i>-cleft:</b> <i>And then there's a new house he wanted to build.</i><sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png/248px-Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png" decoding="async" width="248" height="147" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="648" data-file-height="384"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 248px;height: 147px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png/248px-Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png" data-width="248" data-height="147" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png/372px-Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png/496px-Syntax_Tree_for_If-Because_Cleft_Sentence.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>If-Because Cleft sentence: "<i>If he wants to be an actor it's because he wants to be famous."</i></figcaption></figure> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="If-because_cleft">If-because cleft</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: If-because cleft" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-Expand_section plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>needs expansion</b>. You can help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=">adding to it</a>. <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">November 2024</span>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <ul><li><b>English <i>if-because</i> cleft:</b> <i>If he wants to be an actor it's because he wants to be famous.</i><sup id="cite_ref-iojet.org_9-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-iojet.org-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Other_languages">Other languages</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Other languages" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>Traditional accounts of cleft structures classify these according to the elements involved following English-centric analyses (such as <i>wh-words</i>, the <a href="/wiki/Pronoun" title="Pronoun">pronoun</a> <i>it</i>, the <a href="/wiki/Quantifier_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Quantifier (linguistics)">quantifier</a> <i>all</i>, and so on). This makes it difficult to conduct cross-linguistic investigations of clefts since these elements do not exist in all other languages, which has led to a proposal for a revision of existing cleft taxonomy (see Calude 2009). </p><p>However, not all languages are so rich in cleft types as English, and some employ other means for focusing specific constituents, such as <a href="/wiki/Topicalization" title="Topicalization">topicalization</a>, <a href="/wiki/Word_order" title="Word order">word order</a> changes, <a href="/wiki/Focus_(linguistics)" title="Focus (linguistics)">focusing particles</a> and so on (see Miller 1996). <i>Cleftability in Language</i> (2009) by Cheng Luo presents a cross-linguistic discussion of cleftability. </p> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(2)"><span class="indicator mf-icon mf-icon-expand mf-icon--small"></span><h2 id="Structural_issues">Structural issues</h2><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Structural issues" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div><section class="mf-section-2 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-2"> <p>The role of the cleft pronoun (<i>it</i> in the case of English) is controversial, and some believe it to be referential,<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> while others treat it as a <a href="/wiki/Dummy_pronoun" title="Dummy pronoun">dummy pronoun</a> or empty element.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The former analysis has come to be termed the "expletive" view, whereas the latter is referred to as the "extraposition" approach. Hedberg (2002) proposes a hybrid approach, combining ideas from both takes on the status of the cleft pronoun. She shows that it can have a range of scopes (from semantically void to full reference) depending on the context in which it is used. </p><p>Similarly controversial is the status of the subordinate clause, often termed the "cleft clause". While most would agree that the cleft clause in wh-clefts can be analysed as some kind of <a href="/wiki/Relative_clause" title="Relative clause">relative clause</a> (free or fused or headless), there is disagreement as to the exact nature of the relative. Traditionally, the wh-word in a cleft such as <i>What you need is a good holiday</i>, pertaining to the relative <i>What you need</i>, is understood to be the first <a href="/wiki/Constituent_(linguistics)" title="Constituent (linguistics)">constituent</a> of the relative clause, and to function as its <a href="/wiki/Phrase_structure_rules" title="Phrase structure rules">head</a>. </p><p>Bresnan and Grimshaw (1978) posit a different analysis. They suggest that the relative clause is headed (rather than headless), with wh-word being located outside the clause proper and functioning as its head. Miller (1996) also endorses this approach, citing cross-linguistic evidence that the wh-word functions as indefinite <a href="/wiki/Deictics" class="mw-redirect" title="Deictics">deictics</a>. </p><p>The cleft clause debate gets more complex with it-clefts, where researchers struggle to even agree as to the type of clause that is involved: the traditionalists claim it to be a relative clause (Huddleston and Pullum 2002), while others reject this on the basis of a lack of noun phrase antecedent (Quirk et al. 1985, Sornicola 1988, Miller 1999), as exemplified below: </p> <ul><li><i>It was because he was ill that we decided to return.</i></li> <li><i>It was in September that he first found out about it.</i></li> <li><i>It was with great reluctance that Maria accepted the invitation.</i></li></ul> <p>Finally, the last element of a cleft is the cleft constituent, which typically corresponds to the focus. As mentioned earlier, the focused part of a cleft is typically a noun phrase, but may in fact, turn up to be just about anything:<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ul><li><b>Prepositional phrase</b>: <i>It was <b>on foot</b> that he went there.</i></li> <li><b>Adverbial phrase</b>: <i>It was <b>greedily and speedily</b> that Homer Simpson drank his beer.</i></li> <li><b>Non-finite clause</b>: <i>It is <b>to address a far-reaching problem</b> that Oxfam is launching this campaign.</i></li> <li><b>Gerund</b>: <i>It could be <b>going home early</b> or slacking off at work that the boss reacted to.</i></li> <li><b>Adverbial clause</b>: <i>It was <b>because she was so lonely all the time</b> that she decided to move out.</i></li></ul> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(3)"><span class="indicator mf-icon mf-icon-expand mf-icon--small"></span><h2 id="Information_structure">Information structure</h2><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Information structure" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div><section class="mf-section-3 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-3"> <p>Clefts have been described as "equative" (Halliday 1976), "stative" (Delin and Oberlander 1995) and as "variable-value pairs", where the cleft constituent gives a variable expressed by the cleft clause (Herriman 2004, Declerck 1994, Halliday 1994). A major area of interest with regard to cleft constructions involves their information structure. The concept of "information structure" relates to the type of information encoded in a particular utterance, that can be one of these three: </p> <ul><li>NEW information: things that the speaker/writer expects their hearer/reader might not already know</li> <li>GIVEN information: information that the speaker/writer expects the hearer/reader may be familiar with</li> <li>INFERRABLE information: information that the speaker/writer may expect the hearer/reader to be able to infer either from world knowledge, or from previous discourse</li></ul> <p>The reason why information structure plays such an important role in the area of clefts is largely due to the fact that the organisation of information structure is tightly linked to the clefts' function as focusing tools used by speakers/writers to draw attention to salient parts of their message. </p><p>While it may be reasonable to assume that the variable of a cleft (that is, the material encoded by cleft clauses) may be typically GIVEN and its value (expressed by the cleft constituent) is NEW, it is not always so. Sometimes, neither element contains new information, as is in some demonstrative clefts, e.g., <i>That is what I think</i> and sometimes it is the cleft clause that contains the NEW part of the message, as in <i>And that's when I got sick</i> (Calude 2009). Finally, in some constructions, it is the equation between cleft clause and cleft constituent that brings about the newsworthy information, rather than any of the elements of the cleft themselves (Lambrecht 2001). </p> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(4)"><span class="indicator mf-icon mf-icon-expand mf-icon--small"></span><h2 id="Other_languages_2">Other languages</h2><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Other languages" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div><section class="mf-section-4 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-4"> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Mandarin">Mandarin</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Mandarin" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>The <i>shì...de</i> construction in Mandarin is used to produce the equivalent of cleft sentences. However, in traditional grammar, <i>shì...de</i> clefts were seen as a construction with a function in reference to the construction as a whole. Both <i>shì</i>, the copula, and <i>de</i> can occur in other contexts that express information-structural categories, but they are sometimes hard to distinguish from <i>shì...de</i> clefts.<sup id="cite_ref-doi.org_17-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-doi.org-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In addition, certain constructions with relative clauses have been referred to as "pseudo-cleft" constructions. See <a href="/wiki/Chinese_grammar#Cleft_sentences" title="Chinese grammar">Chinese grammar § Cleft sentences</a> for details. </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_Tree_for_Mandarin_section.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Syntax_Tree_for_Mandarin_section.png/248px-Syntax_Tree_for_Mandarin_section.png" decoding="async" width="248" height="208" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="401" data-file-height="336"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 248px;height: 208px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Syntax_Tree_for_Mandarin_section.png/248px-Syntax_Tree_for_Mandarin_section.png" data-width="248" data-height="208" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Syntax_Tree_for_Mandarin_section.png/372px-Syntax_Tree_for_Mandarin_section.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Syntax_Tree_for_Mandarin_section.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>Mandarin Cleft sentence (ex.1): "<i>Zhāngsān shì zuótiān lái-de</i>."</figcaption></figure> <p>Examples:<sup id="cite_ref-doi.org_17-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-doi.org-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1209690778">.mw-parser-output .interlinear .bold{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .interlinear .smallcaps{text-transform:uppercase;font-size:smaller}</style><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(1)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Zhāngsān</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Zhangsan</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">shì</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="copula" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">COP</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">zuótiān</p><p style="margin: 0px;">yesterday</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">lái-de.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">come-<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r920966791">.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps{font-variant:small-caps}.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps-smaller{font-size:85%}</style><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">DE‍</span></p></div><p style="display: none;">Zhāngsān shì zuótiān lái-de.</p><p style="display: none;">Zhangsan COP yesterday come-<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791"><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">DE‍</span></p><p style="clear: left;">"It was yesterday that Zhangsan came."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(2)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Zhāngsān</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Zhangsan</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">shì</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="copula" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">COP</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">míngtiān</p><p style="margin: 0px;">tomorrow</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">lái.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">come</p></div><p style="display: none;">Zhāngsān shì míngtiān lái.</p><p style="display: none;">Zhangsan COP tomorrow come</p><p style="clear: left;">"Concerning Zhangsan, it is the case that he will come tomorrow."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(3)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Zhāngsān</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Zhangsan</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">zuótiān</p><p style="margin: 0px;">yesterday</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">lái-de.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">come-<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791"><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">DE‍</span></p></div><p style="display: none;">Zhāngsān zuótiān lái-de.</p><p style="display: none;">Zhangsan yesterday come-<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791"><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">DE‍</span></p><p style="clear: left;">"It was yesterday that Zhangsan came."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Spanish">Spanish</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Spanish" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>There exist several constructions which play the role of cleft sentences. A very common resource is the adding of "es que" (time-dependent). Similar to English cleft sentences, time-dependent cleft constructions in Spanish also share a temporal relationship between the verb of the relative clause and the copula.<sup id="cite_ref-:2_18-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:2-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(1)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">¿Cómo</p><p style="margin: 0px;">how</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">es</p><p style="margin: 0px;">is.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRS</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular">3sg</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">que</p><p style="margin: 0px;">that</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">vas?</p><p style="margin: 0px;">go.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRS</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="progressive aspect" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PROG</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="second person, singular">2sg</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">¿Cómo es que vas?</p><p style="display: none;">how is.PRS-3sg that go.PRS.PROG-2sg</p><p style="clear: left;">"How is it that you're going?"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(2)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">¿Adónde</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Where</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">fue</p><p style="margin: 0px;">is.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="past tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PST</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular">3sg</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">que</p><p style="margin: 0px;">that</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">fuiste?</p><p style="margin: 0px;">go.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="past tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PST</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="second person, singular">2sg</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">¿Adónde fue que fuiste?</p><p style="display: none;">Where is.PST-3sg that go.PST-2sg</p><p style="clear: left;">"Where is it that you went?"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <p>From uncleft <i>¿Adónde fuiste?</i> </p><p>Another mechanism is the use of the identificating structure, or relative pronouns, "el/la que", "el/la cual" as well as the neuters: "lo que" and "lo cual". This form of cleft construction highlights an importance between the entity and the number and gender of said entity that is uttered in a cleft sentence.<sup id="cite_ref-:2_18-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:2-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_Tree_for_Spanish_Cleft-Sentence.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Syntax_Tree_for_Spanish_Cleft-Sentence.png/271px-Syntax_Tree_for_Spanish_Cleft-Sentence.png" decoding="async" width="271" height="210" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="371" data-file-height="288"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 271px;height: 210px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Syntax_Tree_for_Spanish_Cleft-Sentence.png/271px-Syntax_Tree_for_Spanish_Cleft-Sentence.png" data-width="271" data-height="210" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Syntax_Tree_for_Spanish_Cleft-Sentence.png 1.5x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>Spanish Cleft sentence (ex.3): <i>"El que va es Juan.</i>"</figcaption></figure> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(3)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">El</p><p style="margin: 0px;">He</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">que</p><p style="margin: 0px;">that</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">va</p><p style="margin: 0px;">go.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRS</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular">3sg</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">es</p><p style="margin: 0px;">is.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRS</abbr>-sg</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Juan</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Juan</p></div><p style="display: none;">El que va es Juan</p><p style="display: none;">He that go.PRS-3sg is.PRS-sg Juan</p><p style="clear: left;">"Who's going is John."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(4)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Lo</p><p style="margin: 0px;">It.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="masculine gender" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">M</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">que</p><p style="margin: 0px;">that</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">no</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="negation/negative" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NEG</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">quiero</p><p style="margin: 0px;">want.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRS</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="first person, singular">1sg</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">es</p><p style="margin: 0px;">is.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRS</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular">3sg</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ir</p><p style="margin: 0px;">go.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="infinitive" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">INF</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">Lo que no quiero es ir</p><p style="display: none;">It.M that NEG want.PRS-1sg is.PRS-3sg go.INF</p><p style="clear: left;">"What I don't want is to go."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <p>Possible uncleft variants: <i>No quiero ir</i>, <i>Ir no quiero</i> </p><p>Furthermore, one can also utilize "cuando" and "donde" when one wants to refer to "that" in a frame of time or place. </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(5)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Fue</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Is.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="past tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PST</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular">3sg</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">en</p><p style="margin: 0px;">in</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Londres</p><p style="margin: 0px;">London</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">donde</p><p style="margin: 0px;">where</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">nací</p><p style="margin: 0px;">born.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="past tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PST</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="first person, singular">1sg</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">Fue en Londres donde nací</p><p style="display: none;">Is.PST-3sg in London where born.PST-1sg</p><p style="clear: left;">"It was in London that I was born."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <p>"<i>Fue en Londres donde nací</i>" (It was in London that I was born), possible uncleft variants <i>Nací en Londres</i> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="French">French</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: French" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>In French, when a cleft is used to reply to a wh-question, it can either appear in a complete form: <b>Matrix 'C'est XP' + relative clause 'que/qui YP'</b> or in a reduced one, <b>Matrix 'C'est XP'.</b> </p><p><b>Example:</b> </p> <ul><li>"<i>C'est Jean que je cherche</i>" (It's Jean whom I'm looking for)</li> <li>"<i>C'est à Paris que j'habite</i>" (It's in Paris where I live)</li></ul> <p><b>Example with Gloss:<sup id="cite_ref-:1_19-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></b> </p><p>Cleft sentences are the most natural way to answer a wh-question in French.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_19-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For example, if one were to ask: </p><p>a. </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:French_ex.b_Syntax_Tree.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/French_ex.b_Syntax_Tree.png/249px-French_ex.b_Syntax_Tree.png" decoding="async" width="249" height="206" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="465" data-file-height="384"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 249px;height: 206px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/French_ex.b_Syntax_Tree.png/249px-French_ex.b_Syntax_Tree.png" data-width="249" data-height="206" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/French_ex.b_Syntax_Tree.png/374px-French_ex.b_Syntax_Tree.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/French_ex.b_Syntax_Tree.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>French Cleft sentence (ex.b): "<i>C'est Ella qui a mangé un biscuit.</i>"</figcaption></figure> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(1)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Qui</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Who</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">est</p><p style="margin: 0px;">is-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRS</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">3SG</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ce</p><p style="margin: 0px;">it-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="singular number" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">SG</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">qui</p><p style="margin: 0px;">that</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">a</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">3</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="singular number" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">SG</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">mangé</p><p style="margin: 0px;">ate-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">3SG</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="past tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PST</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">un</p><p style="margin: 0px;">a.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="masculine gender" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">M</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">biscuit?</p><p style="margin: 0px;">biscuit-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="singular number" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">SG</abbr>?</p></div><p style="display: none;">Qui est ce qui a mangé un biscuit?</p><p style="display: none;">Who is-PRS-3SG it-SG that 3.SG ate-3SG.PST a.M biscuit-NOM.SG?</p><p style="clear: left;">Who ate a cookie?</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <p>It would be answered with the following it-cleft: </p><p> b.<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"></p><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">C’</p><p style="margin: 0px;">It</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">est</p><p style="margin: 0px;">is-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRS</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">3SG</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Ella</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Ella</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">qui</p><p style="margin: 0px;">that</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">a</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">3SG</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">mangé</p><p style="margin: 0px;">ate-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="third person, singular" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">3SG</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="past tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PST</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">un</p><p style="margin: 0px;">a.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="masculine gender" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">M</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">biscuit</p><p style="margin: 0px;">cookie-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="singular number" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">SG</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">C’ est Ella qui a mangé un biscuit</p><p style="display: none;">It is-PRS.3SG Ella that 3SG ate-3SG.PST a.M cookie-NOM.SG</p><p style="clear: left;">"It is Ella that ate a cookie"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Japanese">Japanese</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Japanese" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>The <i>X no wa (ga)</i> construction in Japanese is frequently used to produce the equivalent of cleft sentences. In addition, a gap precedes its filler in both <i>subject cleft (SC) constructions</i> and <i>object cleft (OC) constructions</i>. Japanese speakers have reported that there is an object gap preference in Japanese cleft constructions due to temporal structural ambiguities in subject clefts.<sup id="cite_ref-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr_20-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><b>Example:</b><sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_Tree_for_Japanese.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Syntax_Tree_for_Japanese.png/304px-Syntax_Tree_for_Japanese.png" decoding="async" width="304" height="168" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="521" data-file-height="288"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 304px;height: 168px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Syntax_Tree_for_Japanese.png/304px-Syntax_Tree_for_Japanese.png" data-width="304" data-height="168" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Syntax_Tree_for_Japanese.png/456px-Syntax_Tree_for_Japanese.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Syntax_Tree_for_Japanese.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>Japanese Cleft sentence (ex.1): <i>"Watashi-tachi ga sagashite iru no wa Joey da." –</i> <b>Adapted from Hiraiwa & Ishiwara (2012)</b></figcaption></figure> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(1)</div><div><span title="Japanese-language text"><span lang="ja">私たちが探しているのはジョーイだ。</span></span></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Watashitachi</p><p style="margin: 0px;">We</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ga</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">sagashite</p><p style="margin: 0px;">look.for</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">iru</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRES</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">no</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="complementizer" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">C</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">wa</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="topic" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">TOP</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Joey</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Joey</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">da.</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="copula" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">COP</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">Watashitachi ga sagashite iru no wa Joey da.</p><p style="display: none;">We NOM look.for PRES C TOP Joey COP</p><p style="clear: left;">"It's Joey whom we're looking for."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <p><b>Example of a subject cleft construction:</b><sup id="cite_ref-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr_20-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(2)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Kyonen</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Last year</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;"><gap></p><p style="margin: 0px;"> </p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">sobo-o</p><p style="margin: 0px;">grandma-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="accusative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ACC</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">inaka-de</p><p style="margin: 0px;">village-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="locative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">LOC</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">kaihoushita-nowa</p><p style="margin: 0px;">nursed-<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791"><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">NOWA‍</span></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">shinseki-da-to</p><p style="margin: 0px;">relative-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="copula" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">COP</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="complementizer" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">COMP</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">haha-ga</p><p style="margin: 0px;">mother-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">it-ta.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">say-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="past tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PAST</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">Kyonen <gap> sobo-o inaka-de kaihoushita-nowa shinseki-da-to haha-ga it-ta.</p><p style="display: none;">{Last year} {} grandma-ACC village-LOC nursed-<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791"><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">NOWA‍</span> relative-COP-COMP mother-NOM say-PAST</p><p style="clear: left;">"Mother said it is the relative who nursed my grandmother last year at the village."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <p><b>Example of an object cleft construction:</b><sup id="cite_ref-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr_20-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:4em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(3)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Kyonen</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Last year</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">sobo-ga</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Grandma-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;"><gap></p><p style="margin: 0px;"> </p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">inaka-de</p><p style="margin: 0px;">village-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="locative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">LOC</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">kaihoushita-nowa</p><p style="margin: 0px;">nursed-<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791"><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">NOWA‍</span></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">shinseki-da-to</p><p style="margin: 0px;">relative-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="copula" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">COP</abbr>-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="complementizer" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">COMP</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">haha-ga</p><p style="margin: 0px;">mother-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ja-Latn" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">it-ta.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">say-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="past tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PAST</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">Kyonen sobo-ga <gap> inaka-de kaihoushita-nowa shinseki-da-to haha-ga it-ta.</p><p style="display: none;">{Last year} Grandma-NOM {} village-LOC nursed-<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791"><span class="smallcaps smallcaps-smaller">NOWA‍</span> relative-COP-COMP mother-NOM say-PAST</p><p style="clear: left;">"Mother said it is the relative whom my grandmother nursed last year at the village."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Goidelic_languages">Goidelic languages</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Goidelic languages" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <p>The construction is frequent in the <a href="/wiki/Goidelic_languages" title="Goidelic languages">Goidelic languages</a> (<a href="/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic" title="Scottish Gaelic">Scottish Gaelic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Irish_language" title="Irish language">Irish</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Manx_language" title="Manx language">Manx</a>), much more so than in English, and can be used in ways that would be ambiguous or ungrammatical in English: almost any element of a sentence can be clefted. This sometimes carries over into the local varieties of English (<a href="/wiki/Highland_English" title="Highland English">Highland English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Scots_language" title="Scots language">Lowland Scots</a>, <a href="/wiki/Scottish_English" title="Scottish English">Scottish English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Hiberno-English" title="Hiberno-English">Hiberno-English</a>). </p><p>The following examples from Scottish Gaelic are based on the sentence <span title="Scottish Gaelic-language text"><i lang="gd">"Chuala Iain an ceòl a-raoir"</i></span>, "Iain heard the music last night": </p> <ul><li><span title="Scottish Gaelic-language text"><i lang="gd">’S e Iain a chuala an ceòl a-raoir</i></span> ("It's Iain who heard the music last night" <i>e.g. as opposed to Mary</i>)</li> <li><span title="Scottish Gaelic-language text"><i lang="gd">’S e an ceòl a chuala Iain a-raoir</i></span> ("It's the music that Iain heard last night" <i>e.g. as opposed to the speech</i>)</li> <li><span title="Scottish Gaelic-language text"><i lang="gd">’S ann a-raoir a chuala Iain an ceòl</i></span> ("It's last night that Iain heard the music" <i>e.g. as opposed to last week</i>)</li> <li><span title="Scottish Gaelic-language text"><i lang="gd">’S ann a chuala Iain an ceòl a-raoir</i></span> ("It's heard that Iain the music last night" <i>e.g. as opposed to making the music</i>)</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Tagalog">Tagalog</h3><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Tagalog" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Syntax_Tree_for_Tagalog_cleft-sentence_(ex._1).png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Syntax_Tree_for_Tagalog_cleft-sentence_%28ex._1%29.png/296px-Syntax_Tree_for_Tagalog_cleft-sentence_%28ex._1%29.png" decoding="async" width="296" height="198" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="575" data-file-height="384"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 296px;height: 198px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Syntax_Tree_for_Tagalog_cleft-sentence_%28ex._1%29.png/296px-Syntax_Tree_for_Tagalog_cleft-sentence_%28ex._1%29.png" data-width="296" data-height="198" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Syntax_Tree_for_Tagalog_cleft-sentence_%28ex._1%29.png/444px-Syntax_Tree_for_Tagalog_cleft-sentence_%28ex._1%29.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Syntax_Tree_for_Tagalog_cleft-sentence_%28ex._1%29.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a><figcaption>Tagalog Cleft sentence (ex.1): "<i>Ang babae and bumili ng bahay.</i>"</figcaption></figure> <p>Cleft sentences are <a href="/wiki/Copula_(linguistics)" title="Copula (linguistics)">copula</a> constructions in which the <a href="/wiki/Focus_(linguistics)" title="Focus (linguistics)">focused</a> element serves as the <a href="/wiki/Predicate_(grammar)" title="Predicate (grammar)">predicate</a> of the sentence. </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:3em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(1)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;"><b>Ang</b></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;"><b>babae</b></p><p style="margin: 0px;">woman</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ang</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">bumili</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr gloss-abbr-ambiguous" title="active/actor" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ACT</abbr>.bought</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ng</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="accusative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ACC</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">bahay.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">house</p></div><p style="display: none;"><b>Ang</b> <b>babae</b> ang bumili ng bahay.</p><p style="display: none;">NOM woman NOM ACT.bought ACC house</p><p style="clear: left;">"The (one who) bought the house was the woman."</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:3em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(2)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;"><b>Si</b></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;"><b>Juan</b></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Juan</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ang</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">binigyan</p><p style="margin: 0px;">gave.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="passive voice" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PASS</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ni</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="genitive case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">GEN</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Pedro</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Pedro</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ng</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="accusative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ACC</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">pera.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">money</p></div><p style="display: none;"><b>Si</b> <b>Juan</b> ang binigyan ni Pedro ng pera.</p><p style="display: none;">NOM Juan NOM gave.PASS GEN Pedro ACC money</p><p style="clear: left;">"The (one to whom) Pedro had given money was Juan."<br> (or: "The (one who) was given money to by Pedro was Juan.")</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <p>In the examples in (1) and (2), the foci are in <b>bold</b>. The remaining portions of the cleft sentences in (1) and (2) are noun phrases that contain headless <a href="/wiki/Relative_clause" title="Relative clause">relative clauses</a>. (NB: Tagalog does not have an overt copula.) </p><p>This construction is also used for <a href="/wiki/Wh-questions" class="mw-redirect" title="Wh-questions">WH-questions</a> in Tagalog, when the <a href="/wiki/Interrogative_word" title="Interrogative word">WH-word</a> used in the question is either <i>sino</i> "who" or <i>ano</i> "what", as illustrated in (3) and (4). </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:3em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(3)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;"><b>Sino</b></p><p style="margin: 0px;">who.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ang</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">bumili</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr gloss-abbr-ambiguous" title="active/actor" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ACT</abbr>.bought</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ng</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="accusative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ACC</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">bahay?</p><p style="margin: 0px;">house</p></div><p style="display: none;"><b>Sino</b> ang bumili ng bahay?</p><p style="display: none;">who.NOM NOM ACT.bought ACC house</p><p style="clear: left;">"Who bought the house?"<br>(or: "Who was the (one who) bought the house?")</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:3em"><div style="position:absolute;left:1em">(4)</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;"><b>Ano</b></p><p style="margin: 0px;">what</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ang</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="nominative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NOM</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ibinigay</p><p style="margin: 0px;">gave.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="passive voice" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PASS</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ni</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="genitive case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">GEN</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Pedro</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Pedro</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">kay</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="dative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">DAT</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">Juan?</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Juan</p></div><p style="display: none;"><b>Ano</b> ang ibinigay ni Pedro kay Juan?</p><p style="display: none;">what NOM gave.PASS GEN Pedro DAT Juan</p><p style="clear: left;">"What did Pedro give to Juan?"<br>(or: "What was the (thing that) was given to Juan by Pedro?")</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(5)"><span class="indicator mf-icon mf-icon-expand mf-icon--small"></span><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Notes" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div><section class="mf-section-5 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-5"> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width reflist-columns-2"> <ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-AutoDU-1-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-AutoDU-1_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-AutoDU-1_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFBevacquaScheffler2020" class="citation journal cs1">Bevacqua, Luca; Scheffler, Tatjana (2020-01-01). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1515%2Flingvan-2019-0066">"Form variation of pronominal it-clefts in written English"</a>. <i>Linguistics Vanguard</i>. <b>6</b> (1). <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1515%2Flingvan-2019-0066">10.1515/lingvan-2019-0066</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2199-174X">2199-174X</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:230284069">230284069</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Linguistics+Vanguard&rft.atitle=Form+variation+of+pronominal+it-clefts+in+written+English&rft.volume=6&rft.issue=1&rft.date=2020-01-01&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A230284069%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.issn=2199-174X&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1515%2Flingvan-2019-0066&rft.aulast=Bevacqua&rft.aufirst=Luca&rft.au=Scheffler%2C+Tatjana&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1515%252Flingvan-2019-0066&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span> <span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:CC_BY_icon.svg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/CC_BY_icon.svg/50px-CC_BY_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="18" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="88" data-file-height="31"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 50px;height: 18px;" data-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/CC_BY_icon.svg/50px-CC_BY_icon.svg.png" data-width="50" data-height="18" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/CC_BY_icon.svg/75px-CC_BY_icon.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/CC_BY_icon.svg/100px-CC_BY_icon.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </span></a></span> Text was copied from this source, which is available under a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFReeve2011" class="citation journal cs1">Reeve, Matthew (2011-01-01). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384110001476">"The syntactic structure of English clefts"</a>. <i>Lingua</i>. <b>121</b> (2): 142–171. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.lingua.2010.05.004">10.1016/j.lingua.2010.05.004</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0024-3841">0024-3841</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Lingua&rft.atitle=The+syntactic+structure+of+English+clefts&rft.volume=121&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=142-171&rft.date=2011-01-01&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.lingua.2010.05.004&rft.issn=0024-3841&rft.aulast=Reeve&rft.aufirst=Matthew&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Fscience%2Farticle%2Fpii%2FS0024384110001476&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Sportiche-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Sportiche_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Sportiche_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Sportiche_3-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Sportiche_3-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSportiche" class="citation book cs1">Sportiche, Dominique. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://worldcat.org/oclc/861536792"><i>An introduction to syntactic analysis and theory</i></a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-118-47048-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-118-47048-0"><bdi>978-1-118-47048-0</bdi></a>. <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/861536792">861536792</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=An+introduction+to+syntactic+analysis+and+theory&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F861536792&rft.isbn=978-1-118-47048-0&rft.aulast=Sportiche&rft.aufirst=Dominique&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fworldcat.org%2Foclc%2F861536792&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Collins-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Collins_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCollins2002" class="citation book cs1">Collins, Peter Craig (2002) [1991]. <i>Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Constructions in English</i> (1st ed.). London: Routledge. p. 27–28. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0203202463" title="Special:BookSources/978-0203202463"><bdi>978-0203202463</bdi></a>. <q>Frequencies for the different relative clause types in the corpus are presented in Table 3.1, which shows that the prototypical pseudo-cleft with relative clause introduced by <i>what</i> is statistically dominant, and that the fused-type is almost three times as common as the lexically-headed type.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Cleft+and+Pseudo-Cleft+Constructions+in+English&rft.place=London&rft.pages=27-28&rft.edition=1st&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2002&rft.isbn=978-0203202463&rft.aulast=Collins&rft.aufirst=Peter+Craig&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFZhouChen2021" class="citation journal cs1">Zhou, Hui; Chen, Ming (2021-05-28). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8194822">"What Still Needs to be Noted: Pseudo-Clefts in the Academic Discourse of Applied Linguistics"</a>. <i>Frontiers in Psychology</i>. <b>12</b>: 672349. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2021.672349">10.3389/fpsyg.2021.672349</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1664-1078">1664-1078</a>. <a href="/wiki/PMC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMC (identifier)">PMC</a> <span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8194822">8194822</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34122267">34122267</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Frontiers+in+Psychology&rft.atitle=What+Still+Needs+to+be+Noted%3A+Pseudo-Clefts+in+the+Academic+Discourse+of+Applied+Linguistics&rft.volume=12&rft.pages=672349&rft.date=2021-05-28&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Fpmc%2Farticles%2FPMC8194822%23id-name%3DPMC&rft.issn=1664-1078&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F34122267&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2021.672349&rft.aulast=Zhou&rft.aufirst=Hui&rft.au=Chen%2C+Ming&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Fpmc%2Farticles%2FPMC8194822&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAkmajian1970" class="citation journal cs1">Akmajian, Adrian (1970). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4177550">"On Deriving Cleft Sentences from Pseudo-Cleft Sentences"</a>. <i>Linguistic Inquiry</i>. <b>1</b> (2): 149–168. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0024-3892">0024-3892</a>. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4177550">4177550</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Linguistic+Inquiry&rft.atitle=On+Deriving+Cleft+Sentences+from+Pseudo-Cleft+Sentences&rft.volume=1&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=149-168&rft.date=1970&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F4177550%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.issn=0024-3892&rft.aulast=Akmajian&rft.aufirst=Adrian&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F4177550&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFIrgin2013" class="citation journal cs1">Irgin, Pelin (Oct 2013). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/10">"A Difficulty Analysis of Cleft Sentences"</a>. <i>International Online Journal of Education & Teaching</i>. <b>1</b> (1)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">April 20,</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=International+Online+Journal+of+Education+%26+Teaching&rft.atitle=A+Difficulty+Analysis+of+Cleft+Sentences&rft.volume=1&rft.issue=1&rft.date=2013-10&rft.aulast=Irgin&rft.aufirst=Pelin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iojet.org%2Findex.php%2FIOJET%2Farticle%2Fview%2F10&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-BONELLI_30–42-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-BONELLI_30%E2%80%9342_8-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-BONELLI_30%E2%80%9342_8-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-BONELLI_30%E2%80%9342_8-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBONELLI1992" class="citation journal cs1">BONELLI, ELENA TOGNINI (1992-01-01). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/7.1.30">"<span class="cs1-kern-left"></span>'All I'm Saying Is…': The Correlation of Form and Function in Pseudo-cleft Sentences"</a>. <i>Literary and Linguistic Computing</i>. <b>7</b> (1): 30–42. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fllc%2F7.1.30">10.1093/llc/7.1.30</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0268-1145">0268-1145</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Literary+and+Linguistic+Computing&rft.atitle=%27All+I%27m+Saying+Is%E2%80%A6%27%3A+The+Correlation+of+Form+and+Function+in+Pseudo-cleft+Sentences&rft.volume=7&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=30-42&rft.date=1992-01-01&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1093%2Fllc%2F7.1.30&rft.issn=0268-1145&rft.aulast=BONELLI&rft.aufirst=ELENA+TOGNINI&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1093%2Fllc%2F7.1.30&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-iojet.org-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-iojet.org_9-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-iojet.org_9-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-iojet.org_9-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFPelin2013" class="citation journal cs1">Pelin, Irgin (Oct 2013). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/10">"A Difficulty Analysis of Cleft Sentences"</a>. <i>International Online Journal of Education & Teaching</i>. <b>1</b> (1)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">April 20,</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=International+Online+Journal+of+Education+%26+Teaching&rft.atitle=A+Difficulty+Analysis+of+Cleft+Sentences&rft.volume=1&rft.issue=1&rft.date=2013-10&rft.aulast=Pelin&rft.aufirst=Irgin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iojet.org%2Findex.php%2FIOJET%2Farticle%2Fview%2F10&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:0-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_10-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_10-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_10-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDelahunty1995" class="citation journal cs1">Delahunty, Gerald P. (1995). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200321000342/http://journals.linguisticsociety.org/elanguage/pragmatics/article/download/409/409-703-1-PB.pdf">"The Inferential Reconstruction"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Pragmatics</i>. <b>5</b> (3): 341–364. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1075%2Fprag.5.3.03del">10.1075/prag.5.3.03del</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://journals.linguisticsociety.org/elanguage/pragmatics/article/download/409/409-703-1-PB.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 21 March 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">13 April</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Pragmatics&rft.atitle=The+Inferential+Reconstruction&rft.volume=5&rft.issue=3&rft.pages=341-364&rft.date=1995&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1075%2Fprag.5.3.03del&rft.aulast=Delahunty&rft.aufirst=Gerald+P.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.linguisticsociety.org%2Felanguage%2Fpragmatics%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F409%2F409-703-1-PB.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCaludeDelahunty2011" class="citation journal cs1">Calude, Andreea S.; Delahunty, Gerald P. (2011-09-01). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1075%2Fprag.21.3.02cal">"Inferentials in spoken English"</a>. <i>Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association</i>. <b>21</b> (3): 307–340. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1075%2Fprag.21.3.02cal">10.1075/prag.21.3.02cal</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Hdl (identifier)">hdl</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://hdl.handle.net/10289%2F8007">10289/8007</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1018-2101">1018-2101</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Pragmatics.+Quarterly+Publication+of+the+International+Pragmatics+Association&rft.atitle=Inferentials+in+spoken+English&rft.volume=21&rft.issue=3&rft.pages=307-340&rft.date=2011-09-01&rft_id=info%3Ahdl%2F10289%2F8007&rft.issn=1018-2101&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1075%2Fprag.21.3.02cal&rft.aulast=Calude&rft.aufirst=Andreea+S.&rft.au=Delahunty%2C+Gerald+P.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1075%252Fprag.21.3.02cal&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Cleft_existential_in_English-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Cleft_existential_in_English_12-4"><sup><i><b>e</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCollins1992" class="citation journal cs1">Collins, Peter (October 1992). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0388-0001(92)90024-9">"Cleft existential in English"</a>. <i>Language Sciences</i>. <b>14</b> (4): 419–433. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0388-0001%2892%2990024-9">10.1016/0388-0001(92)90024-9</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">April 16,</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Language+Sciences&rft.atitle=Cleft+existential+in+English&rft.volume=14&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=419-433&rft.date=1992-10&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2F0388-0001%2892%2990024-9&rft.aulast=Collins&rft.aufirst=Peter&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1016%2F0388-0001%2892%2990024-9&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFIrgin2013" class="citation journal cs1">Irgin, Pelin (October 2013). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doaj.org/article/0902b7bd0c714524b8af95af72bc01cb">"A difficulty Analysis of Cleft Sentences"</a>. <i>International Online Journal of Education & Teaching</i>. <b>1</b> (1)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">April 17,</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=International+Online+Journal+of+Education+%26+Teaching&rft.atitle=A+difficulty+Analysis+of+Cleft+Sentences&rft.volume=1&rft.issue=1&rft.date=2013-10&rft.aulast=Irgin&rft.aufirst=Pelin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoaj.org%2Farticle%2F0902b7bd0c714524b8af95af72bc01cb&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Akmajian 1970, Bolinger 1972, Edmonds 1976, Gundel 1977 and Borkin 1984</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Chomsky 1977, Delin 1989, Delahunty 1982, Heggie 1988, Kiss 1998, Lambrecht 2001</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Huddleston and Pullum 2002 provide a comprehensive survey</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-doi.org-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-doi.org_17-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-doi.org_17-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHole2011" class="citation journal cs1">Hole, Daniel (September 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2011.07.004">"The deconstruction of Chinese shì...de clefts revisited"</a>. <i>Lingua</i>. <b>121</b> (11): 1707–1733. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.lingua.2011.07.004">10.1016/j.lingua.2011.07.004</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">April 17,</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Lingua&rft.atitle=The+deconstruction+of+Chinese+sh%C3%AC...de+clefts+revisited&rft.volume=121&rft.issue=11&rft.pages=1707-1733&rft.date=2011-09&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.lingua.2011.07.004&rft.aulast=Hole&rft.aufirst=Daniel&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1016%2Fj.lingua.2011.07.004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:2-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:2_18-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:2_18-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFPlaza_de_la_Ossa2008" class="citation journal cs1">Plaza de la Ossa, Myriam (2008). "Efectos de concordancia en las oraciones escindidas del español". <i>Dicenda</i>. <b>26</b>: 193–218.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Dicenda&rft.atitle=Efectos+de+concordancia+en+las+oraciones+escindidas+del+espa%C3%B1ol&rft.volume=26&rft.pages=193-218&rft.date=2008&rft.aulast=Plaza+de+la+Ossa&rft.aufirst=Myriam&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:1-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:1_19-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_19-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHamlaoui2007" class="citation journal cs1">Hamlaoui, Fatima (2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cla-acl/actes2007/Hamlaoui.pdf">"FRENCH CLEFT SENTENCES AND THE SYNTAX-PHONOLOGY INTERFACE"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>University of Toronto</i>: 11.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=University+of+Toronto&rft.atitle=FRENCH+CLEFT+SENTENCES+AND+THE+SYNTAX-PHONOLOGY+INTERFACE&rft.pages=11&rft.date=2007&rft.aulast=Hamlaoui&rft.aufirst=Fatima&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fhomes.chass.utoronto.ca%2F~cla-acl%2Factes2007%2FHamlaoui.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr_20-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr_20-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Processing_of_Japanese_Cleft_Constr_20-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSakamotoTateyamaYano2014" class="citation journal cs1">Sakamoto, Tsutomu; Tateyama, Yuki; Yano, Masataka (2014). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9294-6">"Processing of Japanese Cleft Constructions in Context: Evidence from Event-Related Brain Potentials"</a>. <i>Journal of Psycholinguistic Research</i>. <b>44</b> (3): 277–286. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10936-014-9294-6">10.1007/s10936-014-9294-6</a>. <a href="/wiki/PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24652069">24652069</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:207201749">207201749</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">April 17,</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Psycholinguistic+Research&rft.atitle=Processing+of+Japanese+Cleft+Constructions+in+Context%3A+Evidence+from+Event-Related+Brain+Potentials&rft.volume=44&rft.issue=3&rft.pages=277-286&rft.date=2014&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A207201749%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F24652069&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1007%2Fs10936-014-9294-6&rft.aulast=Sakamoto&rft.aufirst=Tsutomu&rft.au=Tateyama%2C+Yuki&rft.au=Yano%2C+Masataka&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1007%2Fs10936-014-9294-6&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHiraiwaIshihara2012" class="citation journal cs1">Hiraiwa, Ken; Ishihara, Shinichiro (June 2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9612.2011.00164.x">"Syntactic Metamorphosis: Clefts, Sluicing, and In-Situ Focus in Japanese"</a>. <i>Syntax</i>. <b>15</b> (2): 142–180. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1467-9612.2011.00164.x">10.1111/j.1467-9612.2011.00164.x</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">April 21,</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Syntax&rft.atitle=Syntactic+Metamorphosis%3A+Clefts%2C+Sluicing%2C+and+In-Situ+Focus+in+Japanese&rft.volume=15&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=142-180&rft.date=2012-06&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1111%2Fj.1467-9612.2011.00164.x&rft.aulast=Hiraiwa&rft.aufirst=Ken&rft.au=Ishihara%2C+Shinichiro&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fonlinelibrary.wiley.com%2Fdoi%2F10.1111%2Fj.1467-9612.2011.00164.x&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACleft+sentence" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(6)"><span class="indicator mf-icon mf-icon-expand mf-icon--small"></span><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"> <a role="button" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: References" class="cdx-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--icon-only cdx-button--weight-quiet "> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon--edit"></span> <span>edit</span> </a> </span> </div><section class="mf-section-6 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-6"> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239549316">.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}</style><div class="refbegin refbegin-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em"> <ul><li>Akmajian, A. 1970. On deriving cleft sentences from pseudo-cleft sentences. <i>Linguistic Inquiry</i>, 1(149-168).</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dwight_Bolinger" title="Dwight Bolinger">Bolinger, D.</a> 1972. A Look at Equations and Cleft Sentences. In Firchow, E., editor, <i>Studies for Einar Haugen</i>, pages 96–114. Mouton de Gruyter, The Hague.</li> <li>Borkin, A. 1984. <i>Problems in Form and Function</i>. Ablex, Norwood, NJ.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Joan_Bresnan" title="Joan Bresnan">Bresnan, J.</a> and Grimshaw, J. (1978). The Syntax of Free Relatives in English. <i>Linguistic Inquiry</i>, 9:331–391.</li> <li>Calude, Andreea S. 2009. <i>Cleft Constructions in Spoken English</i>. <a href="/wiki/VDM_Verlag_Dr._M%C3%BCller" class="mw-redirect" title="VDM Verlag Dr. Müller">VDM Verlag Dr. Müller</a>, Saarbrücken.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Noam_Chomsky" title="Noam Chomsky">Chomsky, N.</a> 1977. On wh-movement. In Culicover, P., Wasow, T., and Akmajian, A., editors, <i>Formal Syntax</i>, pages 71–132. Academic Press, New York.</li> <li>Collins, P. 1991. <i>Cleft and pseudo-cleft constructions in English</i>. Routledge, London.</li> <li>Declerk, R. 1994. The taxonomy and interpretation of clefts and pseudoclefts. <i>Lingua</i>, 9(1):183–220.</li> <li>Delahunty, G.P. 1982. <i>Topics in the syntax and semantics of English cleft sentences</i>. Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Judy_Delin" title="Judy Delin">Delin, J.</a> 1989. <i>Cleft constructions in discourse</i>. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Edinburgh.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Judy_Delin" title="Judy Delin">Delin, J.</a> and Oberlander, J. 1995. Syntactic constraints on discourse structure: the case of it-clefts. <i>Linguistics</i>, 33:456–500.</li> <li>Dušková, L. 2005, From the Heritage of Vilém Mathesius and Jan Firbas: Syntax in the Service of FSP. <i>Theory and Practice in English Studies. Proceedings from the Eighth Conference of British, American and Canadian Studies. Brno: Masarykova univerzita</i>, 3:7-23.</li> <li>Emonds, J. 1976. <i>A Transformational Approach to English Syntax</i>. Academic Press, New York.</li> <li>Finegan, Edward. 2004. <i>Language: Its Structure and Use</i>. 4th ed. Boston etc. Thompson. p. 260-277.</li> <li>Gundel, J. 1977. Where do clefts sentences come from? <i>Language</i>, 53:542–559.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michael_Halliday" title="Michael Halliday">Halliday, M.A.K.</a> 1994. <i>An introduction to functional grammar</i>. Arnold, London, 2nd Edition.</li> <li>Halliday, M.A.K. 1976. Some aspects of the thematic organization of the English clause. In Kress, G., editor, <i>System and Function in Language</i>, pages 174–188. <a href="/wiki/Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a>, Oxford.</li> <li>Hedberg, N. 2000. The referential status of clefts. <i>Language</i>, 76(4):891–920.</li> <li>Heggie, L. 1988. <i>The Syntax of Copular Structures</i>. Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California.</li> <li>Herriman, J. 2004. Identifying relations: the semantic functions of wh-clefts in English. <i>Text</i>, 24(4):447–469.</li> <li>Huddleston, R. and Pullum, G. 2002. <i>The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language</i>. <a href="/wiki/Cambridge_University_Press" title="Cambridge University Press">Cambridge University Press</a>, New York.</li> <li>Kiss, K. 1998. Identificational focus versus information focus. <i>Language</i>, 74(2):245–273.</li> <li>Lambrecht, Knud. 2001. A framework for the analysis of cleft constructions. Linguistics, 39(3):463-516.</li> <li>Luo, C. 2009. <i>Cleftability in Language</i>. Wuhan University Press, China.</li> <li>Miller, J. 1999. Magnasyntax and syntactic analysis. <i>Revue française de linguistique appliquée</i>, IV(2):7–20.</li> <li>Miller, J. 1996. Clefts, particles and word order in languages of Europe. <i>Language Sciences</i>, 18(1-2):111–125.</li> <li>Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., and Svartvik, J. 1985. <i>A comprehensive grammar of the English language</i>. Longman, London, New York.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rosanna_Sornicola" title="Rosanna Sornicola">Sornicola, R.</a> 1988. It -clefts and Wh-clefts: two awkward sentence types. <i>Linguistics</i>, 24:343–379.</li></ul> </div>    </section></div> <noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1&mobile=1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&oldid=1255489126">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&oldid=1255489126</a>"</div></div> </div> <div class="post-content" id="page-secondary-actions"> </div> </main> <footer class="mw-footer minerva-footer" role="contentinfo"> <a class="last-modified-bar" href="/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&action=history"> <div class="post-content last-modified-bar__content"> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon-size-medium minerva-icon--modified-history"></span> <span class="last-modified-bar__text modified-enhancement" data-user-name="174.94.28.189" data-user-gender="unknown" data-timestamp="1730784792"> <span>Last edited on 5 November 2024, at 05:33</span> </span> <span class="minerva-icon minerva-icon-size-small minerva-icon--expand"></span> </div> </a> <div class="post-content footer-content"> <div id='mw-data-after-content'> <div class="read-more-container"></div> </div> <div id="p-lang"> <h4>Languages</h4> <section> <ul id="p-variants" class="minerva-languages"></ul> <ul class="minerva-languages"><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%AFrazov%C4%9B_vyt%C3%BDkac%C3%AD_konstrukce" title="Důrazově vytýkací konstrukce – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Důrazově vytýkací konstrukce" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaltsatz" title="Spaltsatz – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Spaltsatz" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fendita_frazo" title="Fendita frazo – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Fendita frazo" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraction_(linguistique)" title="Extraction (linguistique) – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Extraction (linguistique)" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B6%84%EC%97%B4%EB%AC%B8" title="분열문 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="분열문" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frase_scissa" title="Frase scissa – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Frase scissa" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%88%86%E8%A3%82%E6%96%87" title="分裂文 – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="分裂文" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%B7%D1%89%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5_%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8F" title="Розщеплене речення – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Розщеплене речення" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li></ul> </section> </div> <div class="minerva-footer-logo"><img src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" alt="Wikipedia" width="120" height="18" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"/> </div> <ul id="footer-info" class="footer-info hlist hlist-separated"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 5 November 2024, at 05:33<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Content is available under <a class="external" rel="nofollow" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places" class="footer-places hlist hlist-separated"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-terms-use"><a href="https://foundation.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use">Terms of Use</a></li> <li id="footer-places-desktop-toggle"><a id="mw-mf-display-toggle" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cleft_sentence&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop" data-event-name="switch_to_desktop">Desktop</a></li> </ul> </div> </footer> </div> </div> <div class="mw-notification-area" data-mw="interface"></div>  <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-57488d5c7d-c74ff","wgBackendResponseTime":202,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.541","walltime":"0.752","ppvisitednodes":{"value":3539,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":120065,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":2842,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":12,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":3,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":83254,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 634.539 1 -total"," 36.94% 234.373 17 Template:Interlinear"," 29.42% 186.691 1 Template:Reflist"," 22.09% 140.191 16 Template:Cite_journal"," 15.50% 98.384 1 Template:Short_description"," 8.59% 54.478 4 Template:Sc2"," 7.41% 47.051 2 Template:Pagetype"," 7.16% 45.412 4 Template:-gcl"," 6.46% 41.020 6 Template:Lang"," 5.30% 33.656 1 Template:Expand_section"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.308","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":17266064,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.eqiad.main-67876799fc-phdhl","timestamp":"20241127201538","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","name":"Cleft sentence","url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cleft_sentence","sameAs":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q489763","mainEntity":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q489763","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Contributors to Wikimedia projects"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/static\/images\/wmf-hor-googpub.png"}},"datePublished":"2004-07-30T19:55:30Z","dateModified":"2024-11-05T05:33:12Z","headline":"complex sentence that has a meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence"}</script><script>(window.NORLQ=window.NORLQ||[]).push(function(){var ns,i,p,img;ns=document.getElementsByTagName('noscript');for(i=0;i<ns.length;i++){p=ns[i].nextSibling;if(p&&p.className&&p.className.indexOf('lazy-image-placeholder')>-1){img=document.createElement('img');img.setAttribute('src',p.getAttribute('data-src'));img.setAttribute('width',p.getAttribute('data-width'));img.setAttribute('height',p.getAttribute('data-height'));img.setAttribute('alt',p.getAttribute('data-alt'));p.parentNode.replaceChild(img,p);}}});</script> </body> </html>