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Emphatic (or cleft) sentences
§ 180. These sentences in their turn fall into three patterns, in allofwhich the form of the complex sentence is used to emphasize some part of the sentence.
In the first pattern the emphasized part is placed in the position of the predicative, which is followed by a clause. The main clause is patterned on the model of the it -clause and the subordinate clause may be patterned as an attributive, temporal, local or nominal clause.
It is my friend who told me this.
The role of the main clause is purely emphatic, as the information which is divided between the main and the subordinate clause can be expressed in a simple sentence.
It is my friend who told me this —— > My friend told me this.
It is the examination that you and I are concerned with ——- > You and I are concerned with the
examination.
If is not that she loved him —— > She did not love him.
It was the idea they were buying, not the project ——> They were buying the idea, not the project.
The emphatic position may be occupied by a whole clause.
It was what she said that spoiled the impression.
Was it because dusk was gathering that you failed to see anything?
In the last two sentences the content of the predicative clause is emphasized.
The position of the predicative serves for placing greater emphasis on the part occupying this position. Semantically the emphasized part may fulfil different roles.
It was not till this very moment that I recollected him —— > did not recollect him till this very moment.
(The emphasized part is adverbial modifier of time.)
It is not that I hate you —— > I don’t hate you. (Negation is emphasized.)
The cleft sentences and the simple ones given above are similar in meaning as they describe the same situation. The difference lies in a special accentuation of the bold-faced words.
The subordinate clause may be joined asyndetically: It is not you I hate.
Pseudo-complex sentences of this type may be interrogative.
What is it that happened to you?
What was it he disliked so much?
A sentence can be transformed into different cleft sentences depending on what element is to be emphasized. For example:
| John liked to read books at home - | → It wasJohn who liked to read books at home. → It wasbooks that John liked to read at home. → It wasat home that John liked to read books. |
The second pattern of cleft sentences is used to emphasize the predicate, which is split into the operator in the subordinate subject clause and the infinitive in the main clause.
What John liked was to read books at home.
What he disliked so much was to be addressed by passers-by.
The particle to is often omitted.
What he has done is spoil the whole thing.
The third pattern of pseudo-complex emphatic sentences begins with the conjunction if, which does not introduce a conditional clause.
If I feel sorry for anyone it’s Norman —— > I really feel sorry for Normal.
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