In normal English sentence order, subjects come before predicates and verbs come before objects. In English there are variations in the order of sentences. Although these variations cause some confusion, English speakers can use them to highlight an important point in the sentence. For example, a speaker uses a split sentence as a way to focus on a special element of the sentence. A split sentence is a complex sentence in which a simple sentence is expressed using a main and a subordinate clause. The pseudo-cleft sentence and the cleft sentence are two main types of cleft sentences. Split sentence is defined as a construction in which some elements of a sentence are moved from its normal position into a separate clause to give it greater emphasis. The form of a cleft sentence can be illustrated in (a). The cleft sentence is made up of it, a form of be, a focused noun phrase, and the rest of the sentence which is placed in a relative clause. In the construction of its crack, it is assumed that it has no meaning. It is a copula that has the functional role of connecting the main constituents of the sentence. If we take, for example, a sentence like sentence (b) below, we can focus more on the topic by using a split sentence like sentence (c). Furthermore, if we take a sentence like sentence (d) below for example, we use an it –cleft phrase to underline an object noun phrase. (a) It+ be+ focus+ clause.b) John studied English literature at Oxford.c) It was John who studied English literature at Oxford.d) John studied English literature. Another type of cleft sentence is the pseudo-cleft or cleft sentence. A pseudo-split sentence is a kind of split sentence in which the subord...... middle of paper......sity Press ;.Hasselgård, Hilde (ed.). (2004). Adverbs in crack constructions. Proceedings of ICAME '23: International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora. (195-211). Amsterdam: RodopiNordquist .cleft - definition and examples of cleft sentences in English. Grammar and Composition - Homepage of Information on Grammar and Composition. Retrieved December 20, 2011, from http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/cleftterm.htmSchmid, M. S. (1999). Translating the elusive: Marked word order and subjectivity in English-German translation. Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co..Strange orders of sentences. (n.d.). UW-Parkside: Guide to Personal Home Pages. Retrieved December 20, 2011, from http://homepages.uwp.edu/canary/grammar_text/91-clefts.htmlSzwedek, A. J. (1986). A linguistic analysis of sentence stress. Tübingen: G. Narr.