CLEFT AND CLOVEN SENTENCES

© 2002 by Orchid Land Publications

C.-J. N. Bailey

[20010101, updated 20020116]

      Some languages have impersonal predicates, and they often begin a sentence with the subject following it.  English “It’s necessary” and the like are used somewhat like impersonal predicates, since the subject (word or clause or infinitival phrase) that is the logical subject is postposted and represented by dummy IT (or more universally:  PRO).   This is a kind of cleft-sentence.  [See the note at the end.] 
     The types are as follows:    

WITH NOMINALS FOCUSED

Normal:   “It was/is Joan that did it.  It was/is John that we saw.”
Variant:   “Joan was/is the one that did it.  John was/is the one that we saw.  
Inverted:  “The one that did it was Joan.  The one we saw was Joan.”  

WITH PREDICATES FOCUSED

Pseudo-cleft:  “What John did was (to) get there early.”  
Inverted:         “Get there early is what John did.”

Less usual types: 

“It cost a lot of money did that hat . . .” 
“Going to kill me is this.” 
“You reminisce is what you do” (all from D. Storey’s Life class and Home).

 CLOVEN SENTENCES WITH A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE ANSWERING TO A WH-WORD

Normal:   “On the roof was/ is where she left it.”  “At noon was/is when he left.”
Inverted:  “Where she left it was on the roof.”  “When he left was at noon.”

 CLOVEN SENTENCES WITH INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT ANSWERING TO A WH-WORD

Normal:   “To gain an advantage was/is why they did it.”  
“Why they did it was to gain an advantage.”

You can make similar examples with how and how long, how much, etc.  But it is hard to cleave sentences with the predicate do; and there are other quirks in connection with cleft-sentences.  

NB:  Cloven and cleft are, strictly speaking, attributive and predicative participles of cleave,  respectively.  But here, they are being used (cf. stricken and struck as participles of strike) with different senses.