All-Cleft Exercises

An all-cleft uses the word all to express limitation or simplicity — it tells the listener that only one thing matters or happened. The basic pattern is All + subject + verb + is/was + focus: "All I want is some peace and quiet" means "The only thing I want is peace and quiet." A common variant uses "did": All + subject + did + was + base verb — "All she did was smile." This pattern emphasises that the action was simple or small, often to minimise something or express modesty.

All-clefts carry a distinctive emotional tone — they suggest that something is simpler than expected or that a person's needs are modest: "All we need is a little more time." The negative form denies the limitation: "That isn't all he said — he also apologised." In everyday spoken English, all-clefts are extremely common in phrases like "All I know is..." or "All you have to do is..." They appear in Cambridge B2 First sentence transformations where students must rewrite using "all." Practise both the "want/need" and "did" patterns for full exam readiness.