Delahunty and Garvey
(85) It was in 1789 that the French Revolution broke out.The construction here suggests something like specifically in 1789, but could
also be used if a hearer believed that the French Revolution broke out in 1689
or 1799.
The clause of a cleft sentence is usually interpreted as known information,
known either to the hearer or by people generally. It is not, however, assumed
to be currently in the hearer’s consciousness (Prince 1978).
Exercise
For each of the following it-cleft sentences, create a brief text into
which it fits naturally.
a. It is Obama who leads the delegate count.
b. It is the few, the powerful, and the famous who shape our collec-
tive destiny.
c. It is this level of production excellence that rescues Spielberg’s
movie from being merely a thriller.
d. It is urban life that is associated with excitement, freedom, and
diverse daily life.
Pseudo-clefting (wh-clefting)
Like it-clefts, pseudo-clefts “cleave” a sentence around a form of be:
(86) What irritates me is [the amount of sports on TV].Again, we will refer to the italicized expression as the pseudo-cleft clause and
to the bracketed phrase as its focus, which are linked by a form of be. The
clause may begin only with the wh-word what:
(87) a. Who plays golf is Fred.
b. Which ate the mouse was the cat.
c. *When I arrived was lunchtime.
And again, the basic meaning may be represented by a simpler sentence in
which the focus phrase replaces what:
(88) The amount of sports on TV irritates me.