What is a pseudo-cleft sentence? |
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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: | |
X can be a constituent of one of many varieties. | |
The so-called 'inverted' pseudo-cleft sentence reverses the order of the two constituents: | |
Examples | |||||
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Generic | |
A pseudo-cleft sentence is a kind of | |
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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:
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 |
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