“It was Maya who booked the room” draws special attention to Maya. The simpler sentence “Maya booked the room” reports the same basic event without that explicit focus.
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A cleft sentence divides one message into two clauses. It is useful when correcting an assumption, contrasting alternatives, or leading a listener towards the most important information.
Change the focus of one message
Start with “Maya booked the meeting room on Monday.” A cleft can highlight the person, the thing booked, or the time.
| Intended focus | Cleft sentence | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Person | It was Maya who booked the meeting room on Monday. | Who booked it? |
| Object | It was the meeting room that Maya booked on Monday. | What did she book? |
| Time | It was on Monday that Maya booked the meeting room. | When did she book it? |
The information outside the focus is often already known or assumed. If everyone knows that someone booked a room, the first sentence identifies the person responsible.
It-clefts: it + be + focus + clause
Use a form of be that fits the context, followed by the focused information. For a person, who or that can introduce the following clause: “It was Ana who called” and “It was Ana that called.”
Do not add a second subject when the focused person is already the subject of the following clause. “It was Ana who she called” does not express the same meaning as “It was Ana who called.”
Colleague: Did Ben send the invitation?
You: It was Sara who sent it. Ben only checked the address.
The cleft corrects the mistaken identity. A plain “Sara sent it” is also possible, but the cleft makes the contrast more explicit.
What-clefts: introduce the issue, then give the answer
A what-cleft commonly uses what-clause + be + focused information. “What I need is a quieter workspace” places the answer, a quieter workspace, after is.
“What I liked most was the ending” highlights the ending, not the verb liked. The what-clause gives the reader a frame, and the complement supplies the information that fills it.
| Ordinary sentence | What-cleft |
|---|---|
| We need more time. | What we need is more time. |
| I dislike the noise. | What I dislike is the noise. |
| She wanted a clear explanation. | What she wanted was a clear explanation. |
Use these forms when the focus helps the conversation. If every sentence begins with “What…”, the writing can become slow and repetitive.
Focusing on an action: what I did was…
To emphasise an action, use a do-based what-clause followed by an infinitive phrase. “What I did was call the supplier” highlights the action taken.
A to-infinitive is also possible: “What I did was to call the supplier.” Keep the main action in the infinitive form rather than writing “What I did was called the supplier.”
Manager: Did you cancel the order?
Assistant: No. What I did was ask for a revised delivery date.
The reply contrasts two actions: cancelling and asking. It corrects what happened without needing to repeat the full background.
Reversed clefts
A reversed what-cleft puts the focused information first: “A short break is what I need.” It corresponds to “What I need is a short break.”
The focus is the noun phrase a short break. A reversed cleft does not automatically emphasise a verb; identify the actual phrase that the sentence presents as the answer.
Choose emphasis deliberately
Clefts are helpful when a contrast matters, but they make a simple message longer. In an instruction such as “Submit the form by Friday,” an unnecessary cleft may make the deadline harder to find.
Use a cleft to correct a specific misunderstanding: “It is by Friday that you need to submit the form, not by Monday.” Then return to direct sentences for the remaining details. Cambridge’s cleft-sentence guide explains how these structures connect familiar information with new information.
Practice: focus on the requested information
Rewrite each sentence with the requested opening. The goal is to highlight the intended part, not simply to produce a longer sentence.
- “Noor fixed the printer.” Highlight Noor with It was.
- “We need a larger table.” Begin What we need.
- “I emailed the tutor.” Highlight the action with What I did was.
- “They met at the library.” Highlight the place with It was.
- Correct: “It was Leo who he found the key.” Leo was the finder.
- Reverse: “What I want is an honest answer.”
- In “A holiday is what she needs,” what is the focused phrase?
- Correct: “What I did was sent a reminder.”
Answers and explanations
- It was Noor who fixed the printer. That can also replace who.
- What we need is a larger table. The needed object follows is.
- What I did was email the tutor. To email is also possible.
- It was at the library that they met. The location is the focus.
- It was Leo who found the key. Remove the extra subject he.
- An honest answer is what I want. The focused noun phrase moves to the beginning.
- A holiday. The sentence does not focus on the verb needs.
- What I did was send a reminder. Use the infinitive send, with optional to.
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