Emphasis

Post date: Feb 3, 2015 1:03:04 PM

Fronting

• Fronting involves placing an object, complement or clause at the start of the sentence to give it emphasis. To get the form right, you can mark where you need to divide the given sentences before fronting them. For example:

  • It was / really expensive --> Really expensive it was.

  • He's / an awful man --> What an awful man he is.

  • I just don't know / how she puts up with him --> How she puts up with him I just don't know.

• We often front to make things sound more interesting, e.g. Huge it was or to show annoyance, indignation or surprise. In this respect, here are some expressions:

  • Why on earth he does it....

  • How on earth he does it... I have no idea.

Cleft sentences

• Cleft or divided sentences add emphasis to a noun, person, time phrase or clause. They use the following structures:

  • it is/was ...(John) who...

  • It is/was ... (in 1999) that...

  • What ... is/was...

  • The thing/Something (that) ... is/was...

  • The person/Someone (who)... is/was...

• The forms are fairly complex, so getting them right is difficult. You will need plenty of practice in changing base sentences to cleft sentences. However, the forms are grammatically regular so, once you have the hang of them, you should be able to manipulate them confidently.

• Stress and intonation are important here. The main stress is on the piece of information being emphasized, so, in the sentence below, the main stress is on did. You need to start your voice tone high and stress key information as you produce the sentence.

  • What they did was to ship the phosphate to Australia