Hello, I want to ask about my cleft sentence homework.
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Rewrite the sentence using a cleft structure and the word given
The best prices are at Akihabara (where)
The answer key: The place where they have the best prices is Akihabara.
My answer: Akihabara is where the best prices are at.
Is my answer wrong?
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Thank you for reading my post.
hyakuya starsThe answer key: The place where they have the best prices is Akihabara.
The answer key is wrong. Cleft sentences always have
It [is/was] ... that ....
It is Ahihabara that has the best prices.
You might bend the pattern to use 'where' instead of 'that', but it's not often done like that.
CJ
Comments
The answer should be like this:
It is Akihabara where the best prices are.
No, your answer is not wrong, but the one in the key is.
Your answer consists of is a special type of cleft called a ‘reversed pseudo-cleft'. Instead of having “it” as subject, pseudo-clefts have a subject consisting of either a noun phrase in a 'fused' relative construction, or (as in your example) the defining element itself with the fused relative as complement of "be".
You could also have used the usual it-cleft construction. Compare the three constructions:
[1] It is in Akihabara where the best prices are.
[2] Akihabara is where the best prices are.
[3] The place where they have the best prices is Akihabara.
[1] is a basic it-cleft construction, where the subject is “it” and the defining element “Akihabara” is foregrounded.
[2] is a reversed pseudo-cleft in which the foregrounded element “Akihabara” is both subject and defining element.
[3] is neither an it-cleft nor a pseudo-cleft, but simply a declarative clause where the noun phrase subject happens to contain a modifying relative clause.