Back
Advanced

Emphasis & Inversion

Cleft sentences and inverted structures

Cleft sentences use it is/was + that

They shift emphasis to a particular element.

💬 Examples
It was Maria who called me.
the emphasis is on Maria not on the calling
📝 emphasis on Maria
It is the price that worries me.
the emphasis is on the price
📝 emphasis on price
Wh-clefts use 'What ... is/was'

What I need is a holiday — what she did was leave.

💬 Examples
What I want is a coffee.
emphasises what I want over everything else
📝 what-cleft for emphasis
What surprised me was his reaction.
emphasises the reaction as the surprising thing
📝 what-cleft with past
Inversion after negative adverbials adds formality

Never have I seen such chaos.

💬 Examples
Never have I heard such nonsense.
never at the front causes inversion — very formal
📝 inversion after never
Hardly had she arrived when the phone rang.
emphasises how quickly it happened
📝 inversion after hardly