What-Clefts: What I Need Is…

What I need is a good night’s sleep.

Notice

  • What I need is a good night’s sleep.
  • What surprised me most was how friendly everyone was.
  • What we should do is talk to the manager directly.
  • What annoys me is when people arrive late.

Rule

Structure: What + subject + verb + be + the emphasised part.

A what-cleft (also called a pseudo-cleft) puts emphasis on an action, need, or opinion by turning it into the main focus of a new sentence. It’s common in spoken English for giving strong opinions or making recommendations.

Practice

  1. Rewrite with emphasis: ‘I really want some peace and quiet.’
    Answer: What I really want is some peace and quiet.
  2. Rewrite with emphasis: ‘The lack of communication bothered me the most.’
    Answer: What bothered me the most was the lack of communication.
  3. Rewrite with emphasis: ‘We need to focus on quality, not speed.’
    Answer: What we need to focus on is quality, not speed.
  4. Complete: ‘_____ surprised me was how quickly the project finished.’
    Answer: What

Connect

Practise spotting errors in what-cleft sentences.

Try Error Correction →

CEFR: Spoken Production — give clear, detailed, emphatic opinions on familiar topics.

Azizul Hakim
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