cleft sentence

A single clause is split into two separate clauses.

cleft sentence (plural cleft sentences)

1. (linguistics) A complex sentence whose meaning could be expressed by a simple sentence, that has a dependent clause in front of the main clause, and that typically stresses a particular constituent.
   • 1978, Per-Kristian Halvorsen, The Syntax and Semantics of Cleft Constructions, Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, page 28:

     Quirk et al (1972) say about the cleft sentence that it is "...so called because it divides a single clause into two separate sections, each with its own verb".

   • 1984, Ann Borkin, Problems in Form and Function, Ablex Publishing Corporation, page 120:

     Following Bolinger (1972, 1977) and Gundel (1977), I assume that the introductory it of cleft sentences is referential […] .

   • 2007, Joachim Crass, Ronny Meyer, editors, Deictics, Copula and Focus in the Ethiopian Convergence Area, page 170:

     Similar analyses of cleft sentences have been repeated in the linguistic literature ever since.

   • 2011, Martin Durrell, A. E. Hammer, Hammer's German Grammar and Usage, 5th edition, London: Hodder Education, →ISBN:

     With the exception of the type Er war es, der mich davon abhielt, i.e. with the subject of the sentence in the cleft to emphasise it (see 3.6.2c), cleft sentence constructions rarely sound natural in German and are best avoided.

• pseudocleft