Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cleft sentence

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.93 in modern English

Syllables: cleft- sen-tence
IPA

20

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A complex sentence expressible by a simple one, having a dependent clause in front of the main clause and, typically, stressing a particular constituent.

Example Sentences

"Quirk et al (1972) say about the cleft sentence that it is "...so called because it divides a single clause into two separate sections, each with its own verb"."
"Following Bolinger (1972, 1977) and Gundel (1977), I assume that the introductory it of cleft sentences is referential[…]."
"Similar analyses of cleft sentences have been repeated in the linguistic literature ever since."
"With the exception of the type Er war es, der mich davon abhielt, i.e. with the subject of the sentence in the cleft to emphasise it (see 3.6.2c), cleft sentence constructions rarely sound natural in German and are best avoided."

Etymology

A single clause is split into two separate clauses.

Inflected Forms

cleft sentences (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

pseudocleft

Questions

What does cleft sentence mean?: A complex sentence expressible by a simple one, having a dependent clause in front of the main clause and, typically, stressing a particular constituent.
Where does cleft sentence come from?: A single clause is split into two separate clauses.

How to pronounce cleft sentence

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