it as the subject: It was Fiona who told me
9.26 If you want to emphasize one noun phrase, you can use It is … or It was … and follow it with a relative clause.
For example, instead of saying George found the right answer, you may want to stress the fact that George did it by saying It was George who found the right answer.
It was Ted who broke the news to me.
It is usually the other vehicle that suffers most.
Similarly, instead of saying Henry makes clocks, you can say It’s clocks that Henry makes.
It’s money that they want.
It was me who David wanted.
other kinds of focus
9.27 In a split sentence, you usually focus on a noun phrase. However, you can focus on other clause elements or even on a whole clause. You then use a relative clause beginning with that.
You can make a prepositional phrase, a time adverbial or an adverb of place the focus of a split sentence in order to stress the circumstances of an event.
It was from Francis that she first heard the news.
It was then that I realized I’d forgotten my wallet.
It was in Paris that I first saw these films.
You can also focus on an -ing form if you are stressing an action.
It was meeting Peter that really started me off on this new line of work.
You can focus on a clause beginning with because to stress the reason for something.
Perhaps it’s because he’s different that I get along with him.
what or all to focus on an action
9.28 If you want to focus on an action performed by someone, you can use a split sentence consisting of what followed by the subject, the verb do, the verb be, and an infinitive with or without to.
For example, instead of saying I wrote to George immediately, you can say What I did was to write to George immediately.
What I did was to make a plan.
What you have to do is to choose five companies to invest in.
What it does is draw out all the vitamins from the body.
You can use all instead of what if you want to emphasize that just one thing is done and nothing else.
All he did was shake hands and wish me good luck.
All she ever does is make jam.
focusing on the topic
9.29 Clauses with what as their subject are sometimes used to focus on the thing you are talking about. They can be put after the verb be as well as in front of it. For example, you can say Its originality was what appealed to me, as well as What appealed to me was its originality.
What impressed me most was their sincerity.
These six factors are what constitutes intelligence.
focusing on what someone wants or needs: What I want is a holiday, All I need is to win this game
9.30 If you want to focus on the thing that someone wants, needs, or likes, you can use a split sentence beginning with a clause consisting of what followed by the subject and a verb such as want or need. After this clause, you use the verb be and a noun phrase referring to the thing wanted, needed, or liked.
For example, instead of saying We need a bigger garden, you can say What we need is a bigger garden.
What we as a nation want is not words but deeds.
What you need is a doctor.
What he needed was an excuse to talk.
Here is a list of verbs that can be used with what in this structure:
adore
dislike
enjoy
hate
like
loathe
love
need
prefer
want
You can use all instead of what with the verbs want or need if you want to emphasize that someone wants or needs a particular thing and nothing else.
All they want is a holiday.
All a prisoner needed was a pass.
If you do not want to mention the performer in the above structures, you can use a passive form of the verb, after what or all that.
What was needed was a revolution.
Taking the focus off the subject: using impersonal it
9.31 You often want to mention only one thing or fact in a clause. For example, you often want to focus on the type of information that is normally expressed by an adjective. But an adjective cannot stand alone as the subject of a clause. A common way of presenting information of this type is to put the adjective after be, with it as the subject.
If you do not want to choose any of the clause elements as the thing you are going to talk about, you can use several structures with it as subject.
It can be used:
It’s lovely here.
It had been raining all day.
It is seven o’clock.
These uses are often called the impersonal uses of it.
9.32 In these uses, it does not refer back to anything earlier in the speech or writing, and so it is different from the personal pronoun, which usually refers back to a particular noun phrase:
The ending, when it arrives, is completely unexpected.
Paris is special, isn’t it?
For more information about personal pronouns, see the section beginning at paragraph 1.95.
Note that the pronoun it is also used to refer to a whole situation or fact that has been described or implied.
He’s never come to see his son.
It’s most peculiar, isn’t it?