Cleft sentence

Question

1. "It is Johny on the phone."2. "It is johny upstairs."Are these cleft sentences where adverbials replace the standard relative clauses as in1. "It is johny who is on the phone."2. "It is johny who is upstairs."

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Debpriya De1. "It is Johny on the phone."
2. "It is Johny upstairs."
Are these cleft sentences where adverbials replace the standard relative clauses as in
1. "It is Johny who is on the phone."
2. "It is Johny who is upstairs."

Interesting question. I've never seen this question before. I believe your analysis is correct; however, you may want to wait for another reply or two, as others may have an alternative analysis. (I don't think you can call those 'relative clauses'.)

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Debpriya De1. "It is Johny on the phone."2. "It is johny upstairs."Are these cleft sentences where adverbials replace the standard relative clauses as in1. "It is johny who is on the phone."2. "It is johny who is upstairs."

The questions Is it Johny on the phone? and Is it Johny upstairs? seem to be legitimate so the answers to them It is Johny on the phone and It is Johny upstairs are correct ones, one might say.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousThe questions Is it Johny on the phone? and Is it Johny upstairs? seem to be legitimate so the answers to them It is Johny on the phone and It is Johny upstairs are correct ones, one might say.

But correctness is not at issue. All four are correct. The question is whether the first two should be considered, in some way or another, special abbreviated forms of the last two.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJim
AnonymousThe questions Is it Johny on the phone? and Is it Johny upstairs? seem to be legitimate so the answers to them It is Johny on the phone and It is Johny upstairs are correct ones, one might say.
But correctness is not at issue. All four are correct. The question is whether the first two should be considered, in some way or another, special abbreviated forms of the last two.CJ

1. "It is Johny who is on the phone." (not Jimmy)

"It is the phone that Johny is on." (not on the radio)

2. "It is Johny who is upstairs." (not Paul)

"It is the upstairs where John is." (not downstairs)

Those are cleft sentences, in other words 'divided' ones, in which we can give special emphasis to different words there.

Now, the sentences "It is Johny on the phone" and "It is Johny upstairs" seem to be deprived of the emphasis by lacking the relative pronoun/adverb which is needed to attach a special importance (emphasis) to the John, here, and to divide the sentence into two clauses, each with its own verb thus making it the cleft one.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymousthe sentences "It is Johny on the phone" and "It is Johny upstairs" seem to be deprived of the emphasis by lacking the relative pronoun/adverb which is needed to attach a special importance (emphasis) to the John, here

I take it that you don't find the introductory "It is" enough to signal this emphasis, and therefore do not take those sentences as cleft sentences.

Yet, the completely neutral forms are Johny is on the phone and Johny is upstairs. There must be some way of explaining the presence of "It is" at the beginning of It is Johny on the phone and It is Johny upstairs. If not an abbreviated cleft structure, then what? Any further ideas?

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Hi CJ,

You need some context around such abbreviated cleft structures to be sure of their 'cleftness'. In writing, if they stay alone you are not sure about it, whereas the structures with relative pronouns are explicitly cleft ones. In speaking you can emphasise the John in It is Johny on the phone and It is Johny upstairs by intonation, stress and some sort rhythm of your utterance.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousIn writing, if they stay alone you are not sure about it, whereas the structures with relative pronouns are explicitly cleft ones.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic.

I'm not completely convinced, but I have nothing further to add at this time.

CJ

Debpriya De · Answer

Wouldn't you say "That's a nice hat (that) you are wearing." is a cleft sentence too, where in place of
"anticipatory it" we have used "anticipatory that" ?

Anonymous · Answer

Debpriya DeWouldn't you say "That's a nice hat (that) you are wearing." is a cleft sentence too, where in place of"anticipatory it" we have used "anticipatory that" ?

It is a nice hat that you're wearing. (not a cap)

It is you who's wearing a nice hat. (not she)

It's cleft sentences out of the You are wearing a nice hat.

I think, however, that the That's a nice hat (that) you are wearing is not a cleft sentence. The That, here, is rather a demonstrative pronoun to show something like in the That's your hat on the hook and, in my opinion, cannot be substituted with introductory 'it'.

CalifJim · Answer

Debpriya DeWouldn't you say "That's a nice hat (that) you are wearing." is a cleft sentence too, where in place of"anticipatory it" we have used "anticipatory that" ?

Sorry. There is no "anticipatory that". It doesn't exist. that is a demonstrative. To have a cleft sentence you have to start with "It is", "It was", etc.

CJ

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