Introducing English Linguistics

that will last
, we don’t know.” 
(NY Times, Feb. 16, 2007, p. A6)
Placing the how-clause in the theme links the second sentence with the
prior sentence.
Two types of clauses – the pseudo-cleft and the cleft – can also con-
tribute to focus and emphasis. These types of clauses tend to occur most fre-
quently in speech because the item being focused or emphasized receives
heavy stress. A pseudo-cleft is a paraphrase of a declarative sentence; the
pseudo-cleft begins with what and contains a form of the verb be:
Declarative Sentence: I like organic food.
Pseudo-Cleft: What I LÌKE is organic food.
In the above example, the pseudo-cleft construction places heavy stress on
the verb like and allows the speaker to emphasize the fact that she likes
organic food.
In the example below, the pseudo-cleft places emphasis on do, stressing
that the speaker does his own stretching rather than relying on treatment
by a physiotherapist, whose availability cannot be counted on.
You know I I think you still need to go back uhm maybe do something at
least once a week but that’s not always available because there’re so
many people who need phi physiotherapy Uhm so what I’ve always tend-
ed to 
do is to do my own stretches at home
(ICE-GB:S1A-003 26–29)
In the example below, stress could be placed on either the first syllable of
happening or  time, again depending upon which of these two words the
speaker wishes to emphasize.
Uhm I think a lot of the way that that the arts and dance are progress-
ing is uhm is towards an awareness that part of art and dance, a central