It-Cleft Subject Focus Exercises (Advanced)

Advanced it-cleft sentences extend beyond simple past and present tenses. The verb be can appear in any tense or form: present perfect ("It has been the government that has led these reforms"), future ("It will be the jury that decides"), or with modals ("It might have been the wind that knocked the tree down"). This flexibility allows speakers and writers to embed it-clefts in complex tense contexts without losing the emphasis function. The focused element may also include contrastive pairs using "not... but" structures for sharper arguments.

Contrastive it-clefts are particularly powerful in academic and professional writing: "It is not the cost that concerns us, but the quality of the materials." This two-part structure denies one focus and immediately asserts another, making the argument sharper. Passive constructions can also appear after the relative pronoun: "It was this decision that was later reversed by the court." At B2-C1 level, you are expected to manipulate these complex forms fluently. Cambridge C1 Advanced and IELTS Writing Task 2 both reward accurate use of sophisticated cleft structures.