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cleft sentence

noun

Etymology

A single clause is split into two separate clauses.

Definitions

  1. A complex sentence expressible by a simple one, having a dependent clause in front of the…

    A complex sentence expressible by a simple one, having a dependent clause in front of the main clause and, typically, stressing a particular constituent.

    • 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".
    • Following Bolinger (1972, 1977) and Gundel (1977), I assume that the introductory it of cleft sentences is referential[…].
    • Similar analyses of cleft sentences have been repeated in the linguistic literature ever since.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for cleft sentence. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA