Sentence structure: Emphasis: It was Tom who…

In this chapter

• Order in Turkish, patterns in English

  In Turkish, the stressed word moves right before the verb. English word order is stricter, so English uses special patterns for emphasis.

• Patterns

  It-cleft: It was my mom who made the cake. · What-cleft: What I need is some sleep. · Inversion: Never have I seen such a big wave. · Emphatic do: I did finish my homework!

• Cleft: put one part in the spotlight

  Turkish shows this by word order: Pastayı annem yaptı (not someone else).

  Example: It was my mom who made the cake.

  Example: It was in 2019 that we moved to Izmir.

• Inversion

  When a negative adverb comes first, use question order: have I seen.

  Example: Never have I seen such a big wave.

  Example: Not only did she win, but she also broke the record.

• Emphatic do and fronting

  When someone doesn't believe you: did + base verb, with stress on did.

  Example: I did finish my homework!

  Example: This soup does taste amazing.

• Tip

  Inversion happens only after a negative or limiting expression at the start (Never, Rarely, Hardly, Not only, Only then). Not with positive “often”: I have often seen it.