Question 1

Which cleft type should I choose for different situations?

Accepted Answer

The choice depends on what you want to emphasise and where you want the focus. To emphasise a person or thing, use an it-cleft: "It was the weather that ruined the trip." To emphasise an action, idea, or quality, use a wh-cleft: "What makes this special is the attention to detail." To make an immediate, definitive statement, use a reversed wh-cleft: "Confidence is what she needs." To express limitation or simplicity, use an all-cleft: "All you need is practice." To categorise the type of information, use a thing-cleft: "The reason was the budget." Practise all five until the choice feels natural.

Question 2

What are the most common mistakes with cleft sentences?

Accepted Answer

The most frequent errors are: using the wrong relative pronoun — "It was John which called" should be "who" or "that." Changing the meaning when transforming: "The team won" emphasises the team, but "What the team did was win" emphasises the action — these focus on different things. Forgetting the bare infinitive after "All I did was": say "All I did was call" not "All I did was called." Using "what" when you mean "it": "What was John who called" is wrong — start with "It" for it-clefts and "What" for wh-clefts. Finally, check that tenses match between the cleft structure and the original sentence.

Question 3

How do I identify which element to emphasise in a sentence?

Accepted Answer

In exam transformation tasks, the element to emphasise is usually indicated by capital letters, underlining, or bold text: "SARAH called me yesterday" tells you to focus on Sarah. In free writing, choose the element that carries the most important or surprising information. Ask yourself: "What is the main point I want my reader to notice?" If the answer is a person, use an it-cleft. If it is an action or quality, use a wh-cleft. If you want to show that something is the only factor, use an all-cleft. Practising with real sentences helps you develop an instinct for where emphasis falls most naturally in English.

Mixed Cleft Exercises (Easy)

Quick Rule

All 20 questions

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-ed vs -ing Adjectives

Conditionals

Present Perfect

Reported Speech

Passive Voice

Past Simple