Cleft sentences y pseudo-cleft sentences

Damos el nombre de cleft sentence a una oración que ha sido dividida en dos partes, cada una de ellas con su propio verbo. La primera parte, que debe empezar con it + el tiempo correspondiente del verbo to be, sirve para  destacar una determinada información de la oración. Por ejemplo, en la oración My brother married Alice in Oxford in 1999, podemos destacar que fue Alice y no otra persona con la que se casó mi hermano, que fue mi hermano el que se casó con ella y no otra persona, que la boda tuvo lugar en Oxford y no en otro lugar, y que el año en que se casaron fue 1999 y no otro, De esta  manera, para destacar cada uno de estos hechos, obtenemos las siguientes cleft sentences:

It was Alice that my brother married .
It was my brother that married Alice
It was in Oxford that my brother married Alice
It was in 1999 that my brother married Alice

Como puede verse por los ejemplos,cada cleft sentence empieza por it + el verbo to be para destacar el hecho que se quiere destacar que, típicamente, es una oración de relativo, encabezada por that.

Si el antecedente es una persona, who se usa a veces en lugar de that:
It was my brother who married Alice
It's my wife who drives the children to school

Si lo que queremos destacar es la acción completa, lo hacemos con una what-clause, es decir, con una oración encabezada por what, que recibe el nombre de pseudo-cleft sentence. Así,por ejemplo, de una oración  como You need love, obtenemos la pseudo-cleft sentence: What you need is love, y de You've spoilt everything, what you've done is to spoil everything. En este último caso el infinitivo sin to es también una alternativa válida: 
What you've done is spoil everything. 

Se usa all en lugar de what cuando el significado es "lo único que...":
All I did/the only thing I did was (to) drink a couple of beers (lo único que hice fue beber un par de cervezas)
.
Aunque con mucha menor frecuencia, se encuentran pseudo-cleft sentences encabezadas por where o when:

Where the boss has his office is on the second floor

When I am most tired is in the evening

Por último, aunque igualmente poco frecuentes, encontramos a veces algunas pseudo-cleft sentences con who o how:

Who I mean is the chief inspector o, más comúnmente, The chief inspector is who I mean 

How he talked is with a Scottish accent o, más comúnmente,with a Scottish accent is how he talked

EJERCICIOS

* Contruye cleft sentences destacando el elemento en cursiva:
a- I met my wife in Paris
b- We were married in September
c- Bruno reported us to the police
d - The manager himself wants to speak to you
e - Benidorm is a nice place for a holiday, but I'm going to Marbella this summer
f - My left leg hurts, not the right one

** Convierte las siguientes oraciones en pseudo-cleft sentences, encabezadas por la palabra dada entre paréntesis:

a - You need a good cup of tea (what)
b - I'll write a letter to The Times (what)
c - I liked best her performance (what)
d - I only drank a couple of pints with my colleagues (all)

KEY

*
a - It was in Paris that I met my wife
b - Ii was in September that we were married
c - It was Bruno who/that reported us to the police
d - It's the manager himself who/that wants to speak to you
e - Benidorm is a nice place for a holiday, but it's to Marbella that I'm going this summer
f  - It's my left leg that hurts, not the right one

**
a - What you need is a good cup of tea
b - What I'll do is (to) write a letter to The Times
c - What I liked best was her performance
d - All I did was (to) drink a couple of pints with my colleagues.

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Grammar: cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences

One of my former students would like to brush up on her knowledge of cleft sentences and pseudo-cleft sentences. Well, here's some information about them:

A cleft sentence is a sentence which has been divided into two parts, each with its own verb, to emphasize a particular piece of information. The first sentence begins with It plus the corresponding form of the verb to be, followed by the element which is being emphasized, and the second is generally a that-relative clause. For example, the sentence My brother married Alice in Oxford in 1999 can be turned into the following cleft sentences:

It was Alice that my brother married (in Oxford in 1999)
It was my brother that married Alice (in Oxford in 1999)
It was in Oxford that my brother married Alice (in 1999)
It was in 1999 that my brother married Alice (in Oxford)

If the antecedent is a person, who is sometimes used instead of that:

It was my brother who married Alice
It's my wife who drives the children to school

When there is a what-clause which emphasizes the action itself, we have a pseudo-cleft sentence:

You need love becomes what you need is love

If there is an infinitive, to is optional:

You've spoilt everything becomes What you've done is (to) spoil everything

All is used instead of what when the meaning is the only thing that:

The only thing I did was (to) drink a couple of beers becomes All I did was (to) drink a couple of beers.

Pseudo-cleft sentences headed by where or when are sometimes found:

Where the boss has his office is on the second floor

When I am most tired is in the evening

but, in pseudo-cleft sentences with where or when, the wh-clause  is more usually found as subject complement:

Here is where the accident took place

This is where I work

Spring is when the countryside is most beautiful

Although they are not very common, some pseudo-cleft sentences with who or how are sometimes found:

Who I mean is the chief inspector or, more commonly, The chief inspector is who I mean

How he talked is with a Scottish accent or, more commonly, With a Scottish accent is how he talked

PRACTICE

* Build up cleft sentences emphasizing the element in italics:

a- I met my wife in Paris
b- We were married in September
c- Bruno reported us to the police
d - The manager himself wants to speak to you
e - Benidorm is a nice place for a holiday, but I'm going to Marbella this summer
f - My left leg hurts, not the right one

** Turn the following sentences into pseudo-cleft sentences, headed by the word in brackets:

a - You need a good cup of tea (what)
b - I'll write a letter to The Times (what)
c - I liked best her performance (what)
d - I only drank a couple of pints with my colleagues (all)

KEY

*
a - It was in Paris that I met my wife
b - Ii was in September that we were married
c - It was Bruno who/that reported us to the police
d - It's the manager himself who/that wants to speak to you
e - Benidorm is a nice place for a holiday, but it's to Marbella that I'm going this summer
f  - It's my left leg that hurts, not the right one

**
a - What you need is a good cup of tea
b - What I'll do is (to) write a letter to The Times
c - What I liked best was her performance
d - All I did was (to) drink a couple of pints with my colleagues.

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