Grammar: Giving emphasis in English - BBC English Masterclass

✔️Improve your English grammar with the BBC. How do you emphasise something you want to say in English? Maybe somebody didn't understand what you said, and you want to explain it to them clearly. Watch this free online English lesson to find out how.

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#learnenglish #bbcmasterclass #emphasis

TRANSCRIPT
Sian: Hi, Sian here for BBC Learning English. And today we're going to look at ways of giving emphasis. OK, so one way of giving emphasis is by using a cleft sentence. What's that? Well, basically a cleft sentence is a way of cutting a sentence in half so that you can give emphasis to the important or new information. It tells the listener or reader what information they need to pay attention to. Let's have an example.

Sian: Rob ate my biscuits yesterday.

Voice: Ah, so Catherine ate your biscuits yesterday.

Sian: It was Rob that ate my biscuits.

Voice: I hear Rob ate your lunch.

Sian: No, it was my biscuits that Rob ate yesterday.

Voice: I can't believe Rob ate your biscuits this morning.

Sian: It was yesterday that Rob ate my biscuits.

OK, so I said the same sentence in three different ways but each time, the emphasis changed. I did this by using an 'it' cleft. Let's have a look in more detail. So we have it is or it was - so here's our 'it' cleft - followed by the key information we want to emphasise, followed by that and then the rest of the message.

So, let's look at the examples we had. Here we want to emphasise Rob. So, "It was Rob that ate my biscuits," not Catherine. Here, because it's a person, we can also use 'who', although 'that' is more common. Now, I want to emphasise that it was biscuits, not lunch. So, "It was my biscuits that Rob ate, not my lunch." Notice this is plural but we still use 'was' not 'were' here. And then finally, I want to emphasise that it was yesterday. So, "It was yesterday that Rob ate my biscuits," not today.

Let's look at a few more examples. If we want to talk about the present, we use it is and the verb in the present. So, "It is me that does all the work." We can also put this structure into the question form. So, "Was it you that told him?"

And we can make it negative. "It wasn't me that told him." This last sentence, we could also use 'I' instead of 'me', but this is much more formal. So, "It wasn't I who told him."

So, that was your introduction to the 'it' cleft. Now, these structures are really useful in writing because when we're writing, we can't stress or give intonation, so it helps to emphasise key information. They're also common when we're speaking. But you have to remember to stress the key information. So, for example, "It was his smile that I first noticed." Or, "It was only a year ago that we met."

#learnenglish #cleftsentences #emphasis

[bbclearningenglish]

Jackie talks about the language that you might use in formal situations. Learn how to use formal greetings.

[woodies]

It's BBC Learning English that we really need!

[emersoms]

Thanks Sean for teach this lesson to us! I'm a big fan of you!

[gastonpereira]

Useful lesson! Thank you very much. Always learning something new with you. Greetings!

[sv]

Sian it was the brilliant way to give information about english grammar. Thank you a lot for your efforts!

[Krucezam]

it is only bbc that can make complicated grammar topic easier .

[jinounglee]

It was SIAN who introduced me how to put an emphasis in sentences,
which made my day.
thanks. :-)

[onlinefun]

Thank you dear teacher!
Now it is clear to me.

[sarvardinov]

Thank you very much, you've been very helpful.

[solangelucas]

It was this (that ) I needed. Thank you

[jakepitts]

It's practice that you reallly need!

[sergeyltk]

It is Sian that makes me smile everytime I come to BBC channel :)

[solangelucas]

It was that my students needed. Thank you

[shakho]

the most important lesson I need is ur lessons.

[cintyaavila]

It was yesterday that I found this very helpful video.

[razzaqal-fadhli]

Sian your language is very impressing.

[Ripajes]

Now I completely understand the meaning of the phrase: “It wasn’t me” in the song 😮

[LeoNardo-cmch]

It was video from BBC L.E. all that Awesome. it wasn't just ordinary.

[Helensvat]

It is you who brings enlightenment to the students all around the world!

[pablotaborda]

Hi! Really useful indeed.
Can we say "It is practice what you need"? I mean saying 'what' instead of 'that'.
Thank you!