The Person Who, The Thing That | Words Used To Emphasise

Emphasizing words using the structures the person who, the thing that etc.

Study the following sentence.

  • Rani keeps a goat in the garden shed.

This sentence doesn’t put an emphasis on any part. Now we can rewrite this sentence putting the emphasis on Rani.

  • Rani is the person who keeps a goat in the garden shed. OR The person who keeps a goat in the garden shed is Rani.

Both of these sentences put an emphasis on the noun Rani.

Now we can put the emphasis on the goat.

  • A goat is what Rani keeps in the garden shed.
  • What Rani keeps in the garden shed is a goat.

Now we can put the emphasis on the phrase ‘the garden shed’.

  • The garden shed is the place where Rani keeps a goat.
  • The place where Rani keeps a goat is the garden shed.

More examples are given below.

  • Mira works at a bank.
  • Mira is the person who works at a bank. / The person who works at a bank is Mira. (Emphasis on Mira.)
  • A bank is the place where Mira works. / The place where Mira works is a bank. (Emphasis on a bank.)
  • Karan put a book on the table.
  • Karan was the person who put a book on the table. / The person who put a book on the table was Karan.
  • A book was what Karan put on the table.
  • What Karan put on the table was a book.
  • The table was the place where Karan put a book.
  • The place where Karan put a book was the table.

Emphasizing verbs

To emphasize a verb, we use a structure with what…do.

  • She ran away.
  • What she did was to run away.
  • She makes model from clay.
  • What she does is to make models from clay.

Preparatory it

Study the following sentence.

  • My mother bought me a Barbie doll yesterday.
  • It was my mother who / that bought me a Barbie doll yesterday. (Emphasis on my mother)
  • It was a Barbie doll that my mother bought me yesterday. (Emphasis on Barbie doll)
  • It was yesterday that my mother bought me a Barbie doll. (Emphasis on yesterday.)
  • Shiva won the gold medal in the 100m race.
  • It was Shiva who / that won the gold medal in the 100m race.
  • It was the gold medal that Shiva won in the 100m race.

 

Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I am Manjusha. This is my blog where I give English grammar lessons and worksheets.

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