Cleft Sentence
A cleft sentence is a complex sentence in which a simple sentence is expressed using a main clause and a subordinate clause. In English the prototypical cleft sentence has the following form:
- it + be + X + subordinate clause
X can be a constituent of one of many varieties.
X and the subordinate clause together carry the same meaning as their corresponding simple sentence . However, the primary focus of the cleft construction is on an element, often marked by intonation, that introduces new information. This element appears either as X or in the subordinate clause.
(English)
- No, it is his callousness that I shall ignore.
Its corresponding simple sentence is No, I shall ignore his callousness. The primary focus of the cleft sentence may be marked by intonation, as in following sentences:
- No, it is his callousness that I shall ignore.
- No, it is his callousness that I shall ignore.
Sornicola, Rosanna. 1988. "It-clefts and wh-clefts: Two awkward sentence types." JOL 1965–.
Quirk, Randolph, S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, and J. Svartvik. 1985.A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman.
Levinson, Stephen C. 1983.Pragmatics. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University.
Jespersen, Otto. 1949.A modern English grammar on historical principles. Part 7. Copenhagen: E. Mungsgaard.
Delahunty, Gerald P. 1984. "The analysis of English cleft sentences." LA.
Crystal, David. 1980.A first dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Bromser, B. 1984. "Towards a functional description of cleft constructions." Lingua.
Broader Terms
- BT↑ Complex Sentence
Related terms
- RT⇆ Main Clause
- RT⇆ Presupposition Trigger
- RT⇆ Pseudo-Cleft Sentence
- RT⇆ Simple Sentence
- RT⇆ Subordinate Clause
- ExactMatch: https://glossary.sil.org/term/cleft-sentence
