Cleft Sentence Stress: How 'It Was JOHN Who Called' Puts Focus Where It Matters

Cleft sentences are one of English's most powerful grammar tools for emphasis. They split (or "cleave") a simple sentence into two parts, highlighting exactly one piece of information. The pronunciation key is straightforward: the focused element gets strong stress and high pitch, while everything else is de-stressed, reduced, and spoken quickly. Mastering this contrast will make your spoken English far more expressive and natural.

It-Clefts: "It is/was X who/that..."

The most common cleft type starts with "It is" or "It was," followed by the focused element, then a relative clause. Compare these:

• Base: "John called yesterday."
• Cleft: "It was JOHN who called yesterday."

In the cleft version, JOHN receives primary stress and the highest pitch in the sentence. The words "It was" and "who called yesterday" are de-stressed; they are spoken quickly and at a lower pitch. The listener immediately understands: the new, important information is the identity of the caller, not the fact that someone called.

More examples of it-clefts with their implied contrast:

• "It's the PRICE that bothers me." (not the quality)
• "It was in PARIS that we met." (not London)
• "It's MARY who needs help." (not Tom)
• "It was on TUESDAY that he arrived." (not Monday)

Wh-Clefts (Pseudo-clefts): "What X is/was Y"

Wh-clefts begin with a "what" clause and then identify the focused element after "is" or "was." The main stress lands on the element after the verb:

• "What I NEED is a vacation."
• "What she SAID was completely wrong."
• "What MATTERS is your health."
• "What we WANT is more time."

The "what" clause sets up the topic, and the complement after "is/was" delivers the key information with strong stress. The "what" itself is low and quick.

Reverse Clefts: "Y is what X"

Reverse clefts (also called "reversed pseudo-clefts") flip the wh-cleft structure. The focused element comes first, followed by "is what" and the subject clause. Stress falls strongly on the final focused word:

• "A vacation is what I NEED."
• "More time is what we WANT."
• "Honesty is what I VALUE."
• "Hard work is what got her THERE."

In reverse clefts, the end of the sentence carries the heaviest stress. The structure builds toward that final word, which lands with emphasis.

All-Clefts: "All X is/was Y"

The "all" construction is a close cousin of the wh-cleft. It strongly implies that nothing more than the stated element is involved, making the focused complement even more emphatic. The word "all" is de-stressed almost completely:

• "All I WANT is some peace and quiet."
• "All you NEED is love."
• "All she DID was ask a question."
• "All it TAKES is practice."

"All" constructions work particularly well for minimizing or reassuring. The de-stressed "all" signals "this is a small thing," while the stressed complement identifies exactly what that small thing is.

Contrastive Stress in Clefts

Cleft sentences are inherently contrastive. They always imply "not something else." This implied contrast is what drives the stress so hard onto the focused element. When a listener hears strong stress on one word, their brain automatically registers that the speaker is ruling out alternatives:

• "It was TUESDAY that we met." (implies: not Monday, not Wednesday)
• "What I said was INTERESTING." (implies: not boring, not irrelevant)
• "It's COFFEE that she drinks." (implies: not tea, not juice)
• "All I did was SUGGEST it." (implies: not demand, not force)

Because the contrast is built into the structure itself, the focused element must receive noticeably stronger stress than in an ordinary sentence. Half-hearted stress defeats the entire purpose of using a cleft.

Comparison: Base Sentence vs. Cleft Versions

Common Mistakes

Even advanced speakers make predictable errors with cleft sentence stress. Watch out for these:

• Stressing "it was" or "what" instead of the focus element. These words are function words; they set up the structure but carry no new information. Keep them low and quick.
• Using equal stress on all words. This kills the entire point of using a cleft. If every word has the same weight, no element stands out as the focus.
• Not reducing the relative clause enough. "Who called yesterday" should be spoken quickly and at a lower pitch. It is background information, not the focus.
• Forgetting the implied contrast. If you do not feel the "not something else" implication when you speak the cleft, your stress will not be strong enough. Think about what you are ruling out.

For speakers of Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French): cleft structures exist in your native language too. Spanish uses "Fue JUAN quien llamó," Portuguese uses "Foi o JOÃO que ligou," and French uses "C'est JEAN qui a appelé." The key difference is that English relies more heavily on pitch contrast to mark the focus. The stressed syllable rises noticeably higher than in a regular sentence.

Practice: Base Sentence vs. Cleft Version

Read each pair aloud. In the cleft version, give the bold word your strongest stress and highest pitch. Let everything else be fast and low:

• Base: "Lisa baked the cake." / Cleft: "It was LISA who baked the cake."
• Base: "He left because of the noise." / Cleft: "It was the NOISE that made him leave."
• Base: "I need your help." / Cleft: "What I NEED is your help."
• Base: "They want a refund." / Cleft: "All they WANT is a refund."
• Base: "Patience solved the problem." / Cleft: "It was PATIENCE that solved the problem."
• Base: "She apologized." / Cleft: "All she did was APOLOGIZE."

With practice, the jump in pitch on the focused element will become natural, and your listeners will immediately understand which part of your message is the new, important information.