Cleft sentence with how/why

Question

Hello,I know there are cleft sentences that begin either "what," "all," or "it." But can a cleft sentence begin with "how" or "what"?For example:"I gained respect by climbing Mount Everest. ---&gt; How I gained respect was by climbing Mount Everest.""I did it because I thought it would help. ---&gt; Why I did it was because I thought it would help. Or: The reason that I did it was that I thought it would help. "Thanks for your help

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Horkybrambor1I know there are cleft sentences that begin either "what," "all," or "it."

Terminology varies depending on your method of analysis.

Cleft sentences are always of the form "It is/was ... that ...". Those with "what", are called "pseudo-clefts". Those with "all" are usually analyzed differently, not as any kind of cleft.

Horkybrambor1But can a cleft sentence begin with "how" or ~~"what"?~~ "why"?

These are not called cleft sentences, but we can talk about whether any sentence can start with "interrogative content clauses" (indirect questions) with 'how' or 'why'.

I did a search online for these types of clauses, and almost all the cases I found were those where the 'how' or 'why' clause was not at the beginning. And I found none where the 'how' or 'why' clause was the subject of the sentence. However, I found I few where such a non-subject clause was fronted (moved to the beginning). These inverted structures are comparatively rare, most of them complements of "not knowing".

How I was broken to pieces, nobody knows.
How I was going to do it, I didn't know.
Why I was fighting fatigue while watching, I can't say.
Why I was put here I'll never know.

Horkybrambor1The reason that I did it was that I thought it would help.

The way (that) (for 'how') and The reason (that) (for 'why') are used at the beginnings of sentences, as you have done above, but these constructions are neither clefts nor interrogative content clauses. Here are some examples.

The way you know that these drugs are working is when your blood sugar drops.
The way that polymeric solar cells are currently structured impedes this process.
The reason that park ducks are diseased is only partly because of what they eat.
The reason video games are better than movies is that they're interactive.

So your best bet for mastering good English is to use the way that or the reason that at the beginning of a sentence and save how and whyclauses for later in the sentence.

CJ

Cleft sentence with how/why

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