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Cleft sentences: It was my secretary who …

We can emphasise particular words and expressions by putting everything into a kind of relative clause except the words we want to emphasise: this makes them stand out. These structures are called ‘cleft sentences’ by grammarians (cleft means ‘divided’). They are useful in writing (because we cannot use intonation for emphasis in written language), but they are also common in speech. The emphasis is often contrastive – to contradict a false belief or expectation.

Preparatory it​

In one kind of cleft sentence, we use preparatory it is/was (see here). The words to be emphasised are usually joined to the relative clause by that.

Compare:

  • My secretary sent the bill to Mr Harding yesterday.
  • It was my secretary that sent the bill to Mr Harding yesterday. (not somebody else)
  • It was the bill that my secretary sent to Mr Harding yesterday. (not something else)
  • It was Mr Harding that my secretary sent the bill to yesterday. (not to somebody else)
  • It was yesterday that my secretary sent the bill to Mr Harding. (not another day)

Negative structures are also possible.

  • It wasn’t my husband that sent the bill …

Who is possible instead of that when a personal subject is emphasised.

  • It was my secretary who sent …

When a plural subject is emphasised, the following verb is plural (but it is/was remains singular).

  • It is the students that are angry. (not … that is angry.)
  • It was his parents who paid the fees. (not It were his parents …)

The verb cannot be emphasised with this structure: we cannot say It was sent that my secretary the bill.

Nor can a complement be emphasised: we cannot say It’s Jenny that Mr Harding’s secretary is.

It is I who … ; It is me that …​

When an emphasised subject is a pronoun, there are two possibilities. Compare:

  • It is I who am responsible. (formal)
    It’s me that’s/who’s responsible. (informal)
  • It is you who are in the wrong. (formal)
    It’s you that’s in the wrong. (informal)

To avoid being either too formal or too informal in this case, we could say, for example, I’m the person / the one who’s responsible.