Meaning of cleft sentence | Babel Free

Definitions

A complex sentence whose meaning could be expressed by a simple sentence, that has a dependent clause in front of the main clause, and that typically stresses a particular constituent.

Equivalents

Examples

“Quirk et al (1972) say⟳ about the cleft sentence that it is "...so called because it divides a single clause into two separate⟳ sections, each with its own⟳ verb".”

“Following Bolinger (1972, 1977) and Gundel (1977), I assume⟳ that the introductory it of cleft sentences is referential[…].”

“Similar analyses of cleft sentences have⟳ been repeated in the linguistic literature ever since.”

“With the exception of the type⟳ Er war es, der mich davon abhielt, i.e. with the subject of the sentence in the cleft to emphasise it (see⟳ 3.6.2c), cleft sentence constructions rarely sound⟳ natural in German and are best avoided.”

CEFR level