Changing the focus of a sentence. For more English tutorials, please visit: https://www.thelecturette.com

1. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence

2. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
In most affirmative clauses, the subject of the
verb comes first.
They went to Australia in 1956.
I’ve no idea who it was.

3. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
However, when you want to emphasize
another part of the sentence, you can put that
part first instead.
In 1956 they went to Australia.
Who it was I have no idea.

4. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
One common way of giving emphasis is by
placing an adverbial at the beginning of a
sentence.
At eight o’clock I went down for my breakfast.
For years I’d had to hide what I was thinking.

5. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
Note: After adverbials of place and negative
adverbials, you normally put the subject after
the verb.
She rang the bell for Sylvia. In came a girl
she had not seen before.
On no account must they be let in.

6. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
After adverbials of place, you can also put the
subject before the verb. You must do so if the
subject is a pronoun.
The door opened and in she came.
He’d chosen Japan, so off we went to the
Japanese Embassy.

7. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
When you want to say that you do not know
something, you can put a reported question at
the beginning of a sentence.
What I’m going to do next I don’t quite know.
How he managed I can’t imagine.

8. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
Another way of focusing on information is to
use a structure which introduces what you
want to say by using ‘the’ and a noun,
followed by ‘is’. The nouns most commonly
used in this way are:
answer point rule trouble
conclusion problem solution truth
fact question thing

9. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
The second part of the sentence is usually a
‘that’-clause or a ‘which’-clause, although it
can also be a ‘to’-infinitive clause or a noun
group.
The problem is that they can’t cook.
The thing is, how are we going to get her out?
The solution is to adopt the policy which will
produce the greatest benefits.

10. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
It is also common to use a whole sentence to
introduce information in following sentences.

11. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
You can also focus on information by using
impersonal ‘it’ followed by ‘be’, a noun group,
and a relative clause.
It was Ted who broke the news to me.
It is usually the other vehicle that suffers
most.

12. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
It’s money that they want.
It was me Dookie wanted.

13. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
There are many other ways of focusing on
information:
Ted was the one who broke the news to me.
Money is what we want.
What we want is money.

14. Changing the Focus of a
Sentence
You can also focus on information given in the
other parts of the clause, or the whole clause,
using impersonal ‘it’. In this case, the second
part of the sentence is a ‘that’-clause.
It was from Francis that she first heard the
news.
It was meeting Peter that really started me off
on this new line of work.

15. Questions?
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