Cleft Sentences

Article excerpt · target grammar marked

It is not Rome or Paris that dominates the conversation among experienced travellers anymore. What has shifted is not the quality of Europe's traditional capitals but the expectations of the people visiting them.

Grammar Reference · Cleft Sentences

It-cleft

Puts emphasis on one element. It was the food that changed everything. Uses: it + be + focus + that-clause.

Wh-cleft (what-cleft)

Emphasises the predicate or outcome. What impressed us most was the silence. Uses: what-clause + be + focus.

All-cleft

Restricts or minimises scope. All she wanted was a window seat and a coffee. Signals understatement or irony.

Common error

Avoid a double subject. What surprised me it was the price. ✗ → What surprised me was the price. ✓

01Exercise 1 — Form · Write the Correct Form

Cleft Sentences

1.It was the city's that first attracted international chefs to Porto.

2. the travellers found most striking was the layering of Ottoman and Soviet architecture.

3.It is Ljubljana's cycling infrastructure rivals Copenhagen's.

4.All I was a free afternoon and a good pair of shoes.

5.What makes Tbilisi so unusual the intersection of three distinct architectural traditions.

6.It the hospitality, not the architecture, that left the deepest impression.

02Exercise 2 — Transform

rewrite with the new structure

1.The local food scene impressed the journalist most.

2.She needed more time to explore the old quarter.

3.The silence of the early morning surprised every visitor.

4.Porto's resistance to gentrification draws independent travellers.

5.I only wanted a local recommendation and a good coffee.

6.The city's ability to absorb new arrivals makes it so resilient.

03Exercise 3 — About You

in your notebook

Personalise: complete five sentences about yourself using the target grammar.

Cleft Sentences01classplan.ai