This construction uses “It is ... that” to emphasize an element of a sentence. It is also important to distinguish it from the anticipatory subject construction.
Basic Rules
Place the part to be emphasized between It is and that. The subject, object, or adverbial (phrase) can be emphasized.
Original sentence: “Tom broke the window yesterday.”
Subject emphasis: “It was Tom that broke the window yesterday.”
Object emphasis: “It was the window that Tom broke yesterday.”
Adverbial emphasis: “It was yesterday that Tom broke the window.”
When the emphasized element is a person, who can also be used. A predicate verb cannot be emphasized in an emphatic construction.
It was in this room that the famous novelist was born. (The famous novelist was born in this room.)
It was not until she cried that he realized his mistake. (He realized his mistake only when she cried.)
It is music that relaxes me most. (It is music that relaxes me the most.)
Points to Note
① Distinguishing it from the anticipatory subject construction: “It is important that ...” is an anticipatory subject construction (it = the content of the that-clause). Test it by putting what follows that in place of it is and checking whether the sentence is grammatical. If it is not, it is an emphatic construction.
② A verb cannot be emphasized in an emphatic construction, but do/does/did can be used to emphasize a verb: “He does like music.” (He really likes it.)
- It is A that S V: emphasizes A (subject, object, or adverbial phrase)
- A verb cannot be emphasized in an emphatic construction (use do/does/did instead)
- Who can also be used for a person
- Distinguishing the anticipatory subject construction: put the that-clause back in place of it and see whether the sentence is grammatical
Practice
- Rewrite the following sentence as an emphatic construction emphasizing “at the park”: She met him at the park last Sunday.
- Decide whether the following is an emphatic construction or an anticipatory subject construction: It is natural that he should be angry.
- Translate “What I want is your advice” into English using an emphatic construction.