Cleft Sentences Exercises PDFSet 3: Wh-Cleft and All-Cleft: What/All/The thing …
20 questions·14 min·Answers included·Explanations included
Preview: Questions
Fill in the blank with the correct option.
1.___ I need is a good night's sleep.
a) Whatb) Thatc) Whichd) It
2.What she said ___ completely untrue.
a) is beenb) wasc) hasd) were
3.What really annoys me ___ the noise from upstairs.
a) areb) wasc) isd) have
4.What we ___ was a complete waste of time.
a) discussingb) discussc) were discussedd) discussed
5.What ___ me most was her kindness.
a) surprisingb) to surprisec) was surprisedd) surprised
... and 15 more questions in the PDF
Preview: Answers
1.What
2.was
3.is
4.discussed
5.surprised
... and 15 more answers in the PDF
Preview: Explanations
1."What"(a)
'What' introduces a wh-cleft (pseudo-cleft) in the pattern 'What + clause + is/was + focus'. Here it emphasises 'a good night's sleep' as the thing needed.
2."was"(b)
In a wh-cleft 'What + clause + be + complement', the linking verb matches the tense of the clause. Since 'said' is past, 'was' is required.
3."is"(c)
A wh-clause subject ('What really annoys me') is treated as singular and takes the singular linking verb 'is' in the present tense. 'Was' is wrong because 'annoys' is present tense.
4."discussed"(d)
Inside the wh-clause, a past simple verb is needed to match 'was' in the main clause. 'What we discussed' forms a complete noun clause. 'Discuss' (base form) lacks a tense marker and does not agree with the past context.
5."surprised"(d)
The wh-clause requires a finite verb. 'Surprised' (past simple) agrees with 'was' and creates the meaning 'the thing that surprised me most'.
... and 15 more explanations in the PDF
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