Cleft Sentences
Emphasis & Focus (ការសង្កត់ន័យ)
I need coffee.
👇
What I need is coffee.
"Cleft" means "split". We split the sentence to highlight one part.
👉
It-Clefts
It is [X] that...
It is my brother who plays guitar.
It was last year that we visited Siem Reap.
❓
Wh-Clefts (Pseudo)
What I [verb] is...
What I need is a holiday.
What happens is it rains everyday.
The Misunderstanding 💢
Using Clefts to Correct.
Manager 👨💼
Did Sok lose the report?
Dara 🧑
No. It was Vanna who lost it.
Manager 👨💼
Okay. I need to call him.
Dara 🧑
Wait. What you need is his email. He doesn't answer calls.
Rewrite It! ✍️
Choose the correct Cleft sentence.
Original: "I want money."
Make it emphatic:
Original: "Bopha called me." (Not Dara)
Correct the mistake:
Original: "I love the food here."
Focus on 'the food':
Mission 📝
What do you really want?
Rewrite these:
Change these normal sentences into Cleft sentences in your notebook.
-
1. I hate traffic.
➔ What I hate is traffic. -
2. I enjoy spicy food.
➔ What I enjoy is _______________. -
3. Dara broke the glass.
➔ It was Dara who _______________.