CLEFT SENTENCES
INTRODUCCIÓN
Las ‘Cleft Sentences’ dividen un mensaje en dos partes mediante el uso de ‘What’ o ‘It’. Estas frases ponen el foco de atención en la información que es nueva, más importante o contradictoria. Si es hablado, debemos prestar atención a la entonación, pues esta también ayuda a situar el énfasis.
Ejemplos:
- I can get a bit stressed by work. What I do if I get stressed is talk to my friends.
- I get on well with my parents. However, it’s my friends that I talk to if I have a problem.
If you are preparing for Cambridge Advanced, this grammar point appears often in advanced writing and Use of English tasks. You can practise it inside our Cambridge C1 Advanced online course.
'IT' CLAUSES
Mediante las ‘It clauses’ podemos añadir énfasis a la información contenida en la parte de la oración que va entre el ‘it is/was‘ y el ‘that / which / who‘. El verbo que sigue a ‘it‘ es ‘to be‘ y se puede conjugar de distintas maneras para ponerlo en la cleft sentence. la estructura es la siguiente:
- It is/was + información a enfatizar + that/which/who + resto del mensaje
Ejemplos:
- I’d probably talk to my parents first
- It’d probably be my parents who I’d talk to first.
- My hairdresser started to confide in me when he broke up with his girlfriend
- It wasn’t until he broke up with his girlfriend that my hairdresser started to confide in me.
- Sue borrowed my bike last night.
- It was Sue who borrowed my bike
- It was last night that Sue borrowed my bike.
- It was my bike that Sue borrowed.
- I left because I was ill.
- It was because I felt ill that I left.
- You can’t have read the same book.
- It can’t have been the same book that you read.
- Rob ate my biscuits yesterday
- It wasRob who/that ate my biscuits.
- It was my biscuits that Rob ate yesterday.
- It was yesterday that Rob ate my biscuits.
También podemos utilizar ‘when‘ y ‘where‘ en lugar de ‘that‘ cuando hablamos de tiempo y lugar. Pero cambiar ‘that’ por estas dos partículas solo se hace en inglés informal:
- It was in January that the tests results were published.
→It was in January when the tests results were published.
- It’s in Green Street market that the best bargains can be found.
→It’s in Green Street market where the best bargains can be found.
Debemos tener en cuenta que los elementos que podemos destacar son varios:
- Tom saw Will Smith at the awards party last night.
- It was Tom / he who saw Will Smith at the awards party last night. (sujeto)
- It was Will Smith / him that Tom saw at the awards party last night. (objeto)
- It was last night that Tom saw Will Smith at the awards party. (tiempo)
- It was at the awards party that Tom saw Will Smith last night. (lugar)
¿Practicamos lo aprendido?
If you are preparing for Aptis ESOL General C1, this grammar point appears often in advanced writing and Use of English tasks. You can practise it inside our most Advanced online course.
'WHAT' CLAUSES
Este tipo de cleft sentence nos permite también destacar distintos tipos de información. Para esto se sigue la siguiente estructura general:
What-clause + forma de verbo ‘be‘ + información enfatizada.
Detalles de la What-clause:
En algunas ocasiones podemos utilizar ‘all‘ en lugar del ‘what‘ inicial.
- What she was suggesting was that members of the YCO would volunteer their services.
→All she was suggesting was that members of the YCO would volunteer their services.
La ‘what-clause‘ siempre debe contener un verbo. Este es con frecuencia una forma del verbo ‘do‘.
- What she did was (to) convince us of the value of a musical education.
Detalles sobre la forma del verbo ‘be’:
Tras la What-clause debemos colocar una forma del verbo ‘be‘. Esta debe ser una forma singular de este (is / was). No obstante, en situaciones informales algunas veces se puede encontrar una forma plural del verbo (are / were) delante de nombres en plural.
- What she hopes to see is children who enjoy a wide range of musical styles.
→What she hopes to see are children who enjoy a wide range of musical styles.
1. Enfatizar nombres
Esta estructura puede usarse para enfatizar nombres:
What/all + información ya conocida o no relevante + is/was +información a enfatizar
Se usa is/was sin importar si lo que decimos es plural o singular.
- Sue borrowed my bike.
→What Sue borrowed was my bike.
→What Rob ate was my biscuits.
2. Enfatizar verbos
Esta estructura también puede usarse para enfatizar verbos:
What/all + sujeto + do/does/did + is/was +verbo a enfatizar
- They moved us to another town.→ What they did was move us to another town.
Cuando enfatizamos verbos, estos pueden llevar la partícula ‘to’ delante o no llevarla.
- What they did was move us to another town.
- What they did was to move us to another town.
Como mencionamos anteriormente, la ‘what-clause‘ siempre debe contener un verbo. Este es con frecuencia una forma del verbo ‘do‘. También ocurre frecuentemente que si la parte enfatizada contiene un verbo bien en forma continua o perfecta, la forma que adopta el verbo ‘do’ en la ‘What-clause‘ se iguala.
- The boys aren’t leaving Sandy at home. They are taking him to the beach with them..
→What the boys are doing is taking Sandy to the beach with them.
- Old members are absent but the new members have taken their seats in the assembly.
→What the new members have done is taken their seats in the assembly.
3. Enfatizar oraciones
Esta estructura también puede usarse para enfatizar una oración al completo:
What happens/happened + is/was + oración a enfatizar
- We got to the hotel and realised that our room had been double booked.
→What happened was we got to the hotel and realised that our room had been double booked.
¿Practicamos lo aprendido?
If you are preparing for Cambridge Advanced, this grammar point appears often in advanced writing and Use of English tasks. You can practise it inside our Cambridge C1 Advanced online course.
OTROS CASOS DE 'CLEFT SENTENCES'
1. ENFATIZAR TODA UNA ORACIÓN
Mediante el uso de ‘what‘ y una forma del verbo ‘happen‘ podemos enfatizar toda una oración.
- What’s happened as a consequence is that music has become established as an important part of the national curriculum.
2. THE (ONLY / LAST) THING, SOMETHING Y ALL
Podemos enfatizar acciones y sustantivos con las estructuras the (only / last) thing, something y all.
- The thing (that) I most disliked about the movie was the scene in the graveyard.
- The only thing (that) they want is a chance to air their grievances.
- The last thing (that) we did was (to) pack the kettle.
- Something the surveyor neglected to mention was the damp in the kitchen.
- All (that) we’re asking for is to be given a chance.
3. THE ONE / ONLY THING / PERSON
Podemos utilizar también para enfatizar las estructuras the one / only thing / person seguidas de vebos en su forma negativa.
- The one thing (that) this shop won’t do is repair goods bought in other shops.
- The only thing (that) we didn’t find was the key to the cellar.
- The one person (that) I didn’t want to see just then walked into the room.