Welcome to
ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans,  activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

 


 

 

 

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

 

ESL forum > Ask for help > cleft sentences    

cleft sentences



sukrani
Albania

cleft sentences
 
Can you help me with this sentence please ? I totally got confused. While I was teaching cleft sentences, I came across this sentence �The beautiful parks is what I like about London � and I said instead of �is � , we should be using �are �. But students  objected to this.  Because the previous sentence was   " What I like about London is its beautiful parks." 
So which one is correct ?  is or are ?  

25 Jan 2016      





oksandriyash
Russian Federation

I think that when you say "What i like about London IS its beautiful parks" you mean "the THING that you like about London" that �s why the verb is singular. May be the same you can say about another sentence. That � s what I think)))

25 Jan 2016     



cunliffe
United Kingdom

The beautiful parks are what I like about London. 
What I like about London is its beautiful parks.
Oksandriyash �s point is correct and so are both of those sentences.  

Edit: Well, I�ve never heard of a cleft sentence, but I think both of those sentences are fine.

25 Jan 2016     



FrauSue
France

I �m a native speaker, and I agree with Lynne - "the beautiful parks are what I like" but "What I like is the beautiful parks" because it just sounds wrong otherwise.
 

26 Jan 2016     



redcamarocruiser
United States

Q:What is a cleft sentence?
A: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv149.shtml
 
I agree with Lynne and the others because "Whai I like is this" (singular) but the subject "The parks" is plural and therfore needs a plural verb.

26 Jan 2016