Emphasis using it, what and all
Emphasizing nouns with It + be + that / who
| Usual | “Cleft Sentence” |
| She handed him the charger so that he could continue working. | It was the charger that she handed him… . |
| Raul disturbed the class by coming in late. | It was Raul who disturbed the class by… . |
Emphasizing other parts of the sentence
- to emphasize an action by using a gerund
- It was trying to write out his ideas on Brandalism that he found most difficult.
- to emphasize a prepositional phrase
- It was in England that the large exhibition on Brandalism was held.
- with because to give reason
- It was because the comments made by Montgomery were so very clever that Brandalism caught on.
- with when or until to emphasize time
- It was only when people stopped and read the comments that they realized something was taking place.
Emphasizing an action using what
- To emphasize an action what + subject + do/be + infinitive - with or without to
| Usual | What... |
| He put his comments and images on vacant billboards. | What he did was (to) put his comments and images on vacant billboards. |
| They are organizing an international Brandalism exhibition in Vancouver. | What they are organizing is an international Brandalism exhibition in Vancouver. |
- We will commonly use this structure when showing someone how to do something, demonstrating a procedure or telling a sequence of events.
- What you do next is come up with a clever signature.
Other usages of WH-clauses
- to emphasize a whole action or a series of actions
- What happened next was that he was arrested for public mischief.
- What happened was that they fled the scene as soon as they saw people taking their photos and heard the police siren.
- WH-clause can be an introductory phrase
- What I think/feel/believe is that it should not be viewed as public mischief.
- What we need is more public art especially in our public transportation.
- What Montgomery is is a brilliant visual poet.
- the WH-clause can come at the end of the sentence
- More public art is what our cities need.
- Montgomeries latest poems is what I want to talk about.
Using All instead of WHAT
- All can be used instead of WHAT to mean ‘the only thing’.
- All that happened was that the public had a good laugh and walked about smiling.
- All our public transportation system needs is some good art to make our commutes more pleasurable.
Exercise
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