Wh-Cleft Sentences — “What I Need Is…”

A wh-cleft (or pseudo-cleft) sentence splits a sentence into two parts to focus on one element. The pattern is: What + subject + verb + be + focused element. Example: What I need is a rest. The wh-clause (What I need) is a noun clause acting as subject. The focused element comes after 'be'. This structure is common in formal writing, academic essays and public speaking.

An it-cleft uses a dummy subject 'it': It was Maria that called. An wh-cleft uses a wh-clause as subject: What surprised me was Maria's call. Key difference: wh-clefts can focus on verb phrases and actions (What he did was apologise), while it-clefts focus on noun phrases and adverbs. It-clefts often contrast information; wh-clefts introduce or explain information with emphasis.

In a wh-cleft, 'what' already functions as the subject of the whole sentence. Adding a pronoun copy ('it') creates a double subject, which is ungrammatical in English. Correct: What I need is a holiday. The same rule applies to all wh-clauses used as subjects: What caused the problem remains unclear (not 'it remains unclear'). The wh-clause IS the subject — no pronoun repetition needed.

An all-cleft uses 'All' instead of 'What': All I want is peace. All she did was smile. While wh-clefts introduce and focus on an element, all-clefts specifically minimise — they imply that nothing more than what follows is involved. 'All I did was smile' suggests: nothing more serious happened. An all-cleft cannot use 'what' as a relative pronoun after 'all': NOT 'All what I want is' — it is simply 'All I want is'.

In a reversed (or inverted) wh-cleft, the focused element comes first and the wh-clause follows: A rest is what I need. Patience is what this job demands. This order is more common in formal writing and definitions because it builds towards the explanatory wh-clause. It creates a sense of announcing the topic, then explaining it, rather than explaining and then naming it.

The tense of 'be' agrees with the time reference of the wh-clause. Present reference uses 'is/are': What I need is sleep. Past reference uses 'was/were': What I needed was sleep. A very common error is using the wrong tense: 'What I needed is sleep' is incorrect. When reporting past situations, backshift 'be' just as you would in any other past context.

Yes, and this is one of the main advantages of wh-clefts over it-clefts. What he did was apologise (focusing on the action: apologising). What they decided was to postpone the meeting (focusing on the decision). What happened was (that) the pipe burst. This kind of verb-phrase or clausal focus is not possible in it-clefts: NOT 'It was apologise that he did'.

Yes, particularly in conversational spoken English where speakers use wh-clefts to structure their turn and foreground information: What you need to do is relax. What I'm saying is, we need more time. All-clefts are especially natural in speech: All I'm asking for is five minutes. In academic writing, wh-clefts are prized for sophisticated focus. In everyday speech, they add natural emphasis without sounding as formal as fronting or inversion.

While 'what' is the most common, other wh-words create cleft-like structures: Where he went was Paris (place focus). When the crisis hit was at midnight (time focus — quite literary). Why she left was the poor treatment (reason focus). How he managed it was by working through the night (manner focus). These are less frequent than 'what'-clefts but appear in formal and literary English to add variety and emphasis.

Wh-clefts appear in CAE Part 4 (sentence transformation), where you must rewrite using a given word: 'I really need a holiday.' KEY: WHAT. Answer: What I really need is a holiday. They may also appear in Part 3 (word formation) or error correction tasks. In CAE Writing, using wh-clefts in essays and reports demonstrates the 'wide range of structures' required for Band 5 (the highest mark).