Cleft Sentences and Emphasis
Emphasise people, reasons and actions with it-clefts, what-clefts and fronting.
- Kişi: Highlight who did it with it-clefts.
- İhtiyaç: Highlight needs and surprises with what-clefts.
- Öne alma: Push key words forward with fronting.
- TR özet: Vurgulanacak ögeyi başa al.
Start the 8-question quizAdapts to your answers · every miss links back to the rule
Rule in 60 secondsThe one pattern to memorise.
Vurgulanacak ögeyi başa al; normal cümle dağıtır, cleft odaklar.
- Kişi: It was Ali who called. = Arayan Ali'ydi.
- İhtiyaç: What I need is sleep. = İhtiyacım olan uyku.
- Kalıp: It + be + vurgu + who/that.
- Kural: Normal cümle bilgiyi dağıtır, cleft odaklar.
- Kural: what-cleft'te fiil tekil olur: "What I need is…"
- TR ipucu: "…yapan Ali'ydi / …olan uyku" diye çevir.
- TR ipucu: Who insanlar için; that nesne/sebep için.
FormsHow it looks in sentences.
Patterns at a glance.
| Form | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| it-cleft person | It + be + person + who/that | It was Elif who won. |
| it-cleft person | It + be + person + who/that | It is my father that I admire. |
| it-cleft reason | It + be + reason + that | It was the rain that delayed us. |
| it-cleft reason | It + be + time + that/when | It was at midnight that he left. |
| what-cleft | What + S + V + be + focus | What I want is a coffee. |
| what-cleft | What + S + V + be + focus | What broke it was the fall. |
| fronting | Fronted element + rest | Money I don't need; time I do. |
| fronting | All/Every… + rest | Such was the storm that trees fell. |
- TR not: Who insanlar için kullanılır.
- TR not: that nesne/sebep için kullanılır.
- Kural: what-cleft'te fiil tekil olur: "What I need is…".
3 classic trapsWhere Turkish speakers slip.
En sık yapılan 3 hata.
- Trap 1 — günlük zamir: ❌ "It was me who did" (sınavda riskli) → ✅ "It was I who did" / "It was Ali who called."
- Neden: Resmî yazıda özne zamiri tercih edilir.
- Trap 2 — çoğul fiil: ❌ "What I need are apples" → ✅ "What I need is some apples."
- Neden: what-cleft'te fiil tekil olur.
- Trap 3 — kişi için which: ❌ "It was Ali which called" → ✅ "It was Ali who/that called."
- Neden: Which kişi için kullanılmaz.
10 example sentencesRead aloud, twice.
Read aloud and stress the focused word.
- It was Burak who fixed the car. — Arabayı tamir eden Burak'tı.
- It is coffee that keeps me awake. — Beni ayakta tutan kahve.
- What I need is a long holiday. — İhtiyacım olan uzun bir tatil.
- What surprised me was his silence. — Beni şaşırtan onun sessizliğiydi.
- It was in 2019 that we met. — Tanıştığımız yıl 2019'du.
- It was because of fog that the flight stopped. — Uçuşun durma sebebi sisti.
- Silver it isn't; gold it is. — Gümüş değil; altın. (vurgulu ön alma)
- What she said was shocking. — Söylediği şey şok ediciydi.
- It was the last bus that we caught. — Yakaladığımız son otobüstü.
- All I want is honesty. — Tek istediğim dürüstlük.
Quick checkCover the answers, say yours first.
Boşluğu doldur, sonra cevapla karşılaştır.
- 1. It was ___ mother called the school. (who/that ile tamamla)
- Cevap 1: my — "It was my mother who/that called…"
- 2. What I hate ___ traffic jams.
- Cevap 2: is — what-cleft tekil fiil.
- 3. "It was him broke it" cümlesini düzelt.
- Cevap 3: It was he who broke it.