cleft sentence
noun Grammar.
a sentence in which a simpler sentence is paraphrased by being divided into two parts, each with its own verb, in order to emphasize certain information, especially a sentence beginning with expletive it and a form of be followed by the information being emphasized, as It was a mushroom that Alice ate instead of Alice ate a mushroom.
Also called pseudo-cleft sentence. a two-part sentence in which a subject or subject complement expresses information being emphasized and an indefinite relative clause corresponds to the rest of a simpler sentence that has been paraphrased, as A mushroom was what Alice ate or What Alice ate was a mushroom.
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You may have read the word "simmer" in a recipe or two, but what does it really mean?
Words nearby cleft sentence
clef, cleft, cleft hand, cleft lip, cleft palate, cleft sentence, cleft spine, cleft tongue, cleg, Clegg, cleidal
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020