What is a pseudo-cleft sentence?

by	Kent Spielmann (contributor)

Definition
	A pseudo-cleft sentence is a kind of cleft sentence in which the subordinated clause is a relative clause headed by an interrogative pro-form. In English they are of the form:
	wh-relative clause + be + X
	X can be a constituent of one of many varieties.
	The so-called 'inverted' pseudo-cleft sentence reverses the order of the two constituents:
	X + be + wh-relative clause

Examples

Pseudo-cleft	Inverted pseudo-cleft
What John gave to Mary were flowers	Flowers were what John gave to Mary.

Generic
	A pseudo-cleft sentence is a kind of
	What is a complex sentence? What is a cleft sentence?

Sources
	Crystal 1980 63
	Levinson 1983 182–183
	Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik 1985 1383–1384
	Sornicola 1988 343–344
	Bromser 1984 327
	Jespersen 1949 147–148
	Delahunty 1984 74–88

Context for this page:

Concept module: pseudo-cleft sentence, by Kent Spielmann (contributor)
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): P
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

© 2004 SIL International