Using clefts and other structures to highlight information
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it-cleft sentences | page 2 of 4 |
Cleft sentences used for contrast
In a cleft sentence, the main focus normally falls on the noun
group 
or an adverbial
which immediately follows it + be. This is often done for the purpose of
contrast:
Neil appeared in awe of the fortitude his son had displayed as he pulled his mutilated foot from the wheel after the accident.
"He never once fainted. He was always in total control, even though he was in a lot of pain," Neil said. "It was me who did the panicking."
(Bank of English)
In this example there is an explicit contrast between me (ie the father) in the final sentence and the three-times repeated he (ie the son) in the previous two sentences. The use of it-cleft in such situations is very common, as it is difficult in writing to highlight the contrast so strongly without clefting. Compare:
"He never once fainted. He was always in total control, even though he was in a lot of pain," Neil said. "I did the panicking."
Sometimes the contrast is implicit rather than explicit:
China is obstinately laying territorial claim to a huge bite of ocean south of its coastline on the dubious grounds that it was Chinese sailors who first sailed the waters more than 2,000 years ago. (Bank of English)
In this example the author uses the it-cleft structure to highlight the fact that Chinese sailors visited the area first, rather than, say, Vietnamese or Filipino sailors. The strong sense of contrast would be missing from the sentence if it had been written without clefting:
China is obstinately laying territorial claim to a huge bite of ocean south of its coastline on the dubious grounds that Chinese sailors first sailed the waters more than 2,000 years ago.
For one of the teaching implications related to this, see 
Using clefts and other structures to highlight information: Teaching
implications (p 2).
Introduction
Cleft sentences used for contrast
