Project correction
Identify the corrected assumption, focused time, key need and action to avoid.
TF30 · B2 GRAMMAR · 30 MIN
Cleft Sentences for Emphasis
Move the listener’s attention to the person, time, reason or priority that changes the message.
Why this lesson matters · เหตุผลที่เรียนบทนี้
For learners: Build B2 control of it-clefts and what-clefts to correct assumptions and prioritise information.
For teachers: Meaning-first six-stage route: focus choice, controlled forms, correction, dual-accent listening, final prioritised explanation and one focused retry.
สำหรับผู้เรียน: ฝึกใช้ it-cleft และ what-cleft ระดับ B2 เพื่อแก้ความเข้าใจผิดและชี้ข้อมูลสำคัญให้ผู้ฟังตัดสินใจหรือทำขั้นตอนต่อไปได้
สำหรับครู: เส้นทาง 6 ขั้นที่เริ่มจากความหมายและจุดเน้น ต่อด้วยรูปประโยค การแก้ความเข้าใจผิด การฟังสองสำเนียง การอธิบายลำดับความสำคัญ และการลองใหม่เฉพาะจุด
Your Goal
By the end of this lesson, you can create six cleft sentences, focus four information types, correct two assumptions, and deliver one clearly prioritised explanation.
คำอธิบายภาษาไทย
สร้าง cleft sentence อย่างน้อย 6 ประโยค เพื่อย้ายจุดสนใจไปยังคน เวลา เหตุผล หรือสิ่งสำคัญ แก้ความเข้าใจผิด 2 จุด และอธิบายลำดับความสำคัญให้ผู้ฟังจับประเด็นได้ทันที
Why this lesson matters
A neutral sentence reports an event. A cleft sentence tells the listener which part deserves attention: “Mina found the error” becomes “It was Mina who found the error.” Use the structure only when focus changes the listener’s decision, understanding or next action.
ภาษาไทย: ประโยคธรรมดารายงานเหตุการณ์ แต่ cleft sentence ชี้ว่าข้อมูลส่วนใดสำคัญ เช่น เน้นว่าเป็น Mina ไม่ใช่คนอื่น ใช้เมื่อจุดเน้นช่วยแก้ความเข้าใจผิดหรือทำให้ผู้ฟังตัดสินใจและทำขั้นตอนต่อไปได้ชัดขึ้น
PROGRESS FOCUS What improves today?
MEAN · MeaningChoose the person, time, reason, place or priority that genuinely deserves contrastive focus.
FORM · FormControl it is/was + focus + that/who and what + clause + is/was + focus without agreement or clause-order errors.
USE · Real useCorrect an assumption and guide the listener toward one actionable priority without overusing clefts.
Your 30-minute route
1 · 4 minChoose the focus
2 · 5 minBuild it-clefts
3 · 5 minBuild what-clefts
4 · 5 minCorrect assumptions
5 · 5 minListen and transfer
6 · 6 minPrioritise and retry
Teacher Lesson Plan
Ask “What must the listener notice?” before naming the structure. The learner earns credit only when the cleft changes information focus and the rest of the explanation stays natural.
| Stage | Teacher move | Evidence to collect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Meaning | Contrast neutral reporting with four useful information-focus choices. | Six focus maps |
| 2 · It-cleft | Build person, time, place and reason focus with accurate agreement. | Six controlled it-clefts |
| 3 · What-cleft | Highlight needs, causes, priorities and desired actions. | Six structure decisions |
| 4 · Correction | Repair two assumptions and return to natural non-cleft support. | Two complete correction turns |
| 5 · Listening | Recover focus and communicative purpose across two accents. | Two listening maps + two retells |
| 6 · Perform | Score MEAN/FORM/USE and target one focus, form or use retry. | Prioritised explanation + retry |
Stage 1 · Decide what the listener must notice
Do not change the sentence until you can name the contrast.
STUDENT TASK
| Neutral message | Possible focus | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Mina found the error on Tuesday. | person · time | correct who found it or when |
| The team met in Chiang Mai because travel was easier. | place · reason | correct the location or explain the choice |
| We need a verified total before approval. | priority | guide the next action |
| The delayed reply caused the complaint. | cause | separate cause from symptom |
- Use the four models plus two sentences from your own context.
- For all six, mark background information and circle one intended focus.
- Name the focus type: person, time, place, reason/cause or priority.
- Explain what wrong assumption, decision or next action the focus will change.
Meaning test: If highlighting the detail changes nothing for the listener, keep the neutral sentence.
Finish evidenceSix focus maps covering at least four information types.
Teacher Help · Stage 1
Give the same neutral sentence to two partners and assign different assumptions. This makes the focus choice visible: grammar follows the communicative contrast, not the topic word the learner happens to like.
Stage 2 · Build it-clefts that identify or correct
Use an it-cleft when one detail answers “exactly who, when, where or why?”
STUDENT TASK
| Focus | Controlled pattern | Model |
|---|---|---|
| person | It is/was + person + who/that + clause | It was Mina who found the error. |
| time | It is/was + time + that + clause | It was on Tuesday that Mina found it. |
| place | It is/was + place + that + clause | It was in Chiang Mai that the team met. |
| reason | It is/was + reason + that + clause | It was because travel was easier that we chose the city. |
- Create six it-clefts from your Stage 1 maps.
- Include person, time, place and reason at least once.
- Keep the tense in is/was consistent with the original message.
- Read each sentence with narrow stress on the focus, not on every word.
Check the it-cleft controls
The focused element follows it is/was. Use who for people when natural and that for things, time, place or reason. The remaining clause must still express the original relationship without repeating the focused noun as a new subject.
Finish evidenceSix accurate it-clefts covering four information types.
Teacher Help · Stage 2
Back-transform each cleft into its neutral sentence. If meaning, tense or participant changes, repair the clause before working on stress. Do not accept “It was Mina who she found the error.”
Stage 3 · Use what-clefts for the main point
Choose what + clause when the listener needs a need, cause, priority, result or desired action.
STUDENT TASK
| Communicative job | What-cleft | Focused message |
|---|---|---|
| state a need | What we need is a verified total. | required resource |
| identify a cause | What caused the complaint was the delayed reply. | real cause |
| rank a priority | What matters most is protecting the customer’s data. | decision criterion |
| request action | next action |
- Turn six prompts into what-clefts: two needs, one cause, two priorities and one action.
- Check agreement after the what-clause: is/was for one main point; are/were only when the complement is deliberately plural.
- Say one neutral alternative after every cleft.
- Choose which version better guides the listener and explain why.
Choose it-cleft or what-cleft
Use an it-cleft to identify or correct a specific detail already in the event. Use a what-cleft to announce the main need, cause, priority, result or action. If no contrast is useful, use a neutral sentence.
Finish evidenceSix what-cleft decisions with accurate agreement and a justified neutral alternative.
Teacher Help · Stage 3
Keep the what-clause short enough to process. If the learner builds a long abstract subject, ask for the decision first: “What matters most is X.” Add evidence in a normal sentence afterwards.
Stage 4 · Correct two assumptions without overloading the message
Focus one corrected detail, add evidence, then return to normal sentence order.
STUDENT TASK
ACKNOWLEDGEI see why that was unclear.
FOCUS THE CORRECTIONIt was Tuesday that we sent it.
PRIORITY + ACTIONWhat matters now is confirming receipt. I will call this afternoon.
| Assumption to repair | Required focus | Evidence and close |
|---|---|---|
| The team sent the file on Thursday. | time correction with an it-cleft | timestamp + confirmation action |
| The design caused the delay. | real cause with a what-cleft | one fact + next priority |
- Role-play both misunderstandings.
- Open with a short acknowledgement, not a blunt contradiction.
- Use exactly one cleft for the corrected detail and one for the new priority.
- Add checkable evidence in a normal sentence and close with a concrete action.
- Partner repeats the corrected fact and priority; repair only what remains unclear.
Finish evidenceTwo complete correction turns with accurate focus, evidence and closure.
Teacher Help · Stage 4
Stop learners who use a cleft in every sentence. The contrastive sentence should stand out against ordinary supporting language. Evaluate whether the listener can repeat both the corrected assumption and the new priority.
Stage 5 · Listen for focus across two accents
Recover the neutral message, the highlighted information and the speaker’s reason for highlighting it.
STUDENT TASKAmerican English · Matthew British English · Amy
Customer explanation
Track which details receive contrastive focus and what the listener should do next.
| Listening pass | Record | Transfer question |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Situation | speaker, problem and neutral event | What is happening? |
| 2 · Focus | it-cleft/what-cleft + highlighted element | What must the listener notice? |
| 3 · Purpose | correction, priority or action | Why use a cleft here? |
- Listen to Matthew and Amy once for meaning and once for form.
- Write one neutral sentence behind each cleft.
- Retell one message from each recording with the same focus but your own supporting sentence.
- Do not imitate the accent; preserve the contrast and clause form.
Finish evidenceTwo listening maps, two neutral back-transformations and two accurate retells.
Teacher Help · Stage 5
Audio never starts automatically. Accent variety tests transfer, not imitation. Replay the focused sentence only, then ask for three answers: neutral event, highlighted element, communicative purpose.
Stage 6 · Final Practice: make one priority unmistakable
Use a few well-chosen clefts inside a natural explanation, not a chain of display sentences.
STUDENT TASK
FINAL PRACTICE
Context → assumption → correction → priority → evidence → action → check
- Choose one real problem from work, study, travel, service or a shared plan.
- Plan notes only: context · wrong assumption · corrected detail · main priority · evidence · action.
- Speak for 60–75 seconds. Use one it-cleft to correct or identify and one what-cleft to state the priority.
- Include at least two normal supporting sentences so the focused structures remain meaningful.
- Your partner asks one clarification question and states the corrected fact plus final priority.
- Repair any misunderstanding without adding unnecessary clefts.
- Receive one target—meaning, form or use—and retry only the weakest section.
Performance rule: The listener should know both what changed and what matters next.
Score the first independent performance
MEAN · MeaningThe learner selects a useful contrast and makes the corrected detail and main priority unmistakable.
FORM · FormIt-cleft and what-cleft patterns preserve tense, agreement, clause order and the original relationships.
USE · Real useThe learner completes a coherent explanation with two corrected assumptions across the lesson, natural supporting sentences, evidence, action and an independent repair.
0 · Not yetThe focus is unnecessary or unclear, or form errors change who did what, when or why.
1 · With supportThe message becomes clear after one prompt to choose the focus, repair the clause, reduce overuse or add evidence.
2 · IndependentThe clefts accurately redirect attention, the supporting language stays natural and the listener identifies the corrected fact and priority without a prompt.
Result: 0–2 Rebuild · 3–4 Developing · 5–6 B2 performance evidence.
Finish evidenceSix cleft sentences across the lesson + four information types + two corrected assumptions + one prioritised explanation + one focused retry.
Teacher Help · Stage 6
Score the first independent explanation across MEAN, FORM and USE. Give one target only. Preserve the first score and record whether the retry makes the corrected fact or final priority easier to recover.
Grammar you can use
You can now choose a useful information focus, build accurate it-clefts and what-clefts, correct an assumption and make one priority clear without turning every sentence into a cleft. Continue through the Dynamic Learning Graph below to compare more advanced focus choices.
Return to Grammar LessonsContinue your learning path
Emphasis with Auxiliaries and Do
Learn first
เรียนก่อน
Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Sentences
Next step
ขั้นต่อไป
Defining Relative Clauses
Review a simpler focus choice
ทบทวนการเลือกจุดเน้นแบบพื้นฐาน
Rhetorical Emphasis
See the C2 destination
ดูเป้าหมายระดับ C2
