20 slides, 15 seconds: cleft sentences for emphasis in short talks

Q: What are cleft sentences?

Cleft sentences split one idea into two clauses to stress one part . We need a stronger ending becomes What we need is a stronger ending , which saves the key words for last; Bruno taught us about signal becomes It was Bruno who taught us about signal , which spotlights the person. The name comes from the verb cleave , to split.

Q: What is an example of a cleft sentence?

A typical example is What matters is that a retry never pays out twice : the What -clause builds up, and the stressed part comes last. Others stress different things: It was Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis who started Ignite (people), All you have to do is keep one idea per slide (the only thing) and The reason we test on paper first is that paper is cheap (a reason).

Q: What's the difference between an it-cleft and a wh-cleft?

An it-cleft puts the focus right after It is or It was , then adds that or who : It's the small things that decide whether a merchant trusts the app. It's handy for corrections: It was Erin, not the team, who found the comma bug. A wh-cleft saves the focus for the end, after What + clause + is : What surprised us most was how merchants use the app.

Q: When do you use cleft sentences?

Use them for the one or two points listeners must remember : a key message ( What I want you to remember is… ), a correction ( No, it was a merchant who found it ) or a reason ( The reason is that… ). They suit talks, demos and feedback, where the voice can stress the focus too. Don't stack them, though: a talk made only of clefts sounds forced.

Q: Is it "What we need is" or "What we need it is"?

It's What we need is , with no extra it : What we need is a stronger ending. The whole What -clause is the subject, so an added it gives the verb a second one. When the focus is one thing, the verb is singular too: What surprised us was the speed of the slides , not were . A true-or-false drill in 20 slides, 15 seconds on edio.ai sets both traps.

Q: Is it "It's the timer that" or "It's the timer what"?

Say It's the timer that keeps talks short : an it-cleft joins with that , or who for people, never what . So it's It was Rui who found the punchline , not It was Rui which found it . What starts the other kind of cleft instead: What keeps talks short is the timer. Feedback replies in the chat of 20 slides, 15 seconds , an edio.ai lesson for B2 software teams, set what and who as traps.

Q: Is it "the reason is that" or "the reason is because"?

In careful English, use The reason is that… : The reason we test on paper first is that paper is cheap. Reason already means because , so The reason is because… says it twice; it's common in speech, but editors and teachers often mark it wrong. The problem is that… works the same way: The problem with bad signal is that the app never hears back.

Q: What is an Ignite talk?

An Ignite talk is a five-minute talk of 20 slides that advance automatically , one every 15 seconds, so the speaker can't slow down or skip ahead. The format began in Seattle on December 7, 2006, started by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis, and its motto is Enlighten us, but make it quick . Any very short talk, often five minutes or less, can be called a lightning talk .

Q: How do you give feedback on a presentation in English?

Start with what worked, then name one change , and keep it specific. Cleft sentences help: What worked best was your first slide: one clear key message. It was slides four to six that felt rushed. All you need to do is cut one sentence from every slide. In 20 slides, 15 seconds , a B2 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, students choose replies like these in a chat with a colleague after his lightning talk.

Q: How do I teach cleft sentences to B2 learners?

Teach them as a tool for stress , not as a transformation: show a plain sentence beside its cleft and ask what the speaker wants you to notice. Then practice the voice, a little louder and slower on the focus, and give learners a reason to use the forms, such as a one-minute talk built on It was… that taught me… or All you have to do is… Open boxes in this lesson set talks like these.

Cleft sentences for emphasis are the grammar of this B2 English for IT lesson plan on five-minute tech talks.

Grammar: Cleft sentences: wh-clefts (What we need is a stronger ending), it-clefts (It was Bruno who…), All you have to do is… and The reason is that…
Topic: Five-minute Ignite talks, 20 slides at 15 seconds each, and an hour of lightning talks at a fictional payments startup, with hook, punchline, pacing and key message.
Activities: The story of the first Ignite, a talks program and speaker notes to read, a rehearsal to hear, self-checking drills, a feedback chat, mini talks from boxes, and six timed slides to write and record.

What's inside

Chapter 1Warm-up: The Clock Is Ticking
- PictureUnlock
- Spin the wheel and talk about talks at workSpin the wheelUnlock
- Study the words for short talksVocabularyTry it
- Choose the word for each pictureChoose by pictureUnlock
Chapter 2The Story: Make It Quick
- Read the story of IgniteArticleUnlock
- Choose the correct answer about the storyQuizUnlock
Chapter 3At Work: Lightning Talks at Kestrel
- Read the program of the lightning talksReal-life documentTry it
- Read Amara's speaker notesArticleUnlock
- True or false? Check the program and the notesTrue or falseUnlock
- Choose the line that stresses the right pointQuizUnlock
Chapter 4Listen: Fifteen Seconds, Rui!
- Listen to Amara and Rui rehearse their talksListeningTry it
- Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
- Choose the correct answer about the rehearsalQuizUnlock
Chapter 5Grammar: What Matters Is…
- Study the scheme: cleft sentencesGrammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct option to complete each sentenceChoose the optionUnlock
- Rewrite each sentence for emphasis: fill in the gapsFill in the gapsTry it
- Choose the correct answer to each question after the talkQuizUnlock
- Is the sentence correct? True or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps in Rui's speaker notesDrag and dropUnlock
Chapter 6Speak Up: Feedback in Fifteen Seconds
- Choose the best replies to give feedback on a talkChatTry it
- Open a box: give a one-minute mini talkOpen the boxUnlock
Chapter 7Homework: Your Own 20 × 15
- Read your phrase bankReal-life documentUnlock
- Choose the correct option: Amara's thank-you postChoose the optionUnlock
- Match the sentence halvesMatchUnlock
- Write the script for six 15-second slidesWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
- Record your talk: six slides, 15 seconds eachSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

emphasis
a key message
speaker notes
a hook
a punchline
pacing
run through
get across
drag on

Grammar: cleft sentences for emphasis

A cleft sentence rebuilds a plain statement around the part that matters. In a talk where each slide gets 15 seconds, nobody can afford to say a point twice, so learners place the key message where no listener can miss it: at the end of a What-clause, or between It was and who.

Cleft sentences: a spotlight on one part

A cleft sentence splits one idea into two parts and puts the emphasis on the part that matters most.

Five ways to stress one part

What we need is… saves a thing or an idea for last, What we did was + verb stresses an action, and It was… who picks out a person. All you have to do is… means nothing more, and The reason is that… points at a cause.

Pattern	What it stresses	Example
What + clause + is / was + focus	a thing or an idea; the focus comes last, as new information	What we need is a stronger ending.
What + subject + do / did + is / was + (to) verb	an action	What we did was watch merchants at work.
It is / was + focus + that (or who for people)	one person, thing or time, often in contrast to another	It was Erin who found the comma bug.
All (that) + clause + is / was + focus (never “All what”)	the only thing, nothing more	All you have to do is keep one idea per slide.
The thing / reason / problem is (that) + clause	the point you want people to notice	The reason we test on paper is that paper is cheap.

From plain to stressed

A What-cleft is What + clause, then is or was, then the stressed part: What matters is that a retry never pays out twice. Set a plain line beside its cleft, Bruno taught us about signal against It was Bruno who…, and the cleft tells listeners what to remember.

Build a What-cleft

What + clauseis / wasthe part you stress

What surprised us most was how merchants use the app.

What matters is that a retry never pays out twice.

Plain or stressed?

Plain

Bruno taught us about signal.
We test on paper first because paper is cheap.

Stressed

It was Bruno who taught us about signal.
The reason we test on paper first is that paper is cheap.

Louder on the focus, and not too often

In a talk, the voice does half the work: It was BRUNO who taught us about signal, with the focus a little louder and slower. Keep clefts for the points that matter most; when every sentence is stressed, nothing stands out.

Stress it with your voice too

In a talk, say the focus a little louder and slower: “It was BRUNO who taught us about signal.” Save cleft sentences for the one or two points that matter most. If every sentence is stressed, nothing stands out.

Four slips: it, what, were, because

The typical slips are an extra it (What we need it is…), what in an it-cleft (It's the timer what…), were after one thing and The reason is because…; the lesson's own examples, from Ignite's founders to All we had to do was watch, show the right forms.

Typical mistakes

What we need it is a stronger ending.
What we need is a stronger ending.
no extra it: the What-clause is the subject
It's the timer what keeps talks short.
It's the timer that keeps talks short.
It-clefts use that (or who for people), never what
What surprised us were the speed of the slides.
What surprised us was the speed of the slides.
the speed is one thing, so the verb is singular
The reason is because paper is cheap.
The reason is that paper is cheap.
“reason” already means “because”: use that

From today's lesson

It was Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis who started Ignite.
What makes the format hard is that the slides never wait.
What surprised us most was how merchants actually use the app.
It was Erin who showed us that a comma can break a price.
What matters is that a retry never pays out twice.
All we had to do was watch.

Try the cleft sentences exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

What's in the lesson

13 auto-checked exercises
2 games
2 teacher-checked tasks
2 real-life documents
2 articles
1 grammar scheme
1 set of word cards
1 audio clip
1 picture
1 transcript

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

stress a thing or an idea with a What-clause: What we need is a stronger ending.
spotlight one person or thing: It was Bruno who taught us about signal. It's the timer that keeps talks short.
give a reason or limit the point to one thing: The reason is that paper is cheap. All you have to do is keep one idea per slide.
script six 15-second slides around one key message, and give a colleague feedback: What worked best was your first slide.

20 slides, 15 seconds is lesson 14 of English for IT B2 · Beyond the Code, in the middle of unit 5, Demos and tech talks, where learners build short talks with a clear structure and emphasis. Lesson 13's signposts give a talk its structure; cleft sentences now stress the one point it must get across. Lesson 15 closes the unit with trends and a five-minute demo, and English for IT C1 takes it-clefts and wh-clefts further in its lesson 3.

Students spin a wheel about talks at work and learn twelve words with pictures and audio, from a hook to drag on. The story tells how the first Ignite started in Seattle in December 2006, with a popsicle-stick bridge contest before 25 five-minute talks. A program of lightning talks and Amara's speaker notes follow, with a true-or-false check and a choice of lines that stress the right point. In the AI-voiced rehearsal, Amara helps Rui cut his talk to one key message, and he finds her punchline. After the scheme come five self-checking drills, ending with Rui's speaker notes to complete; then students give Rui feedback in a chat and open boxes for one-minute talks.

Homework begins with a phrase bank, a choose-the-option drill on Amara's thank-you post and sentence halves to match, all self-checking. Then students script six 15-second slides about something they learned at work, with at least four cleft sentences, and record the talk with a timer; the teacher reviews both.

Grammar:: cleft sentences · emphasis
Topic:: tech talks · Ignite talks · lightning talks

Teaching tips

Read a plain sentence, then its cleft, and let students say what changed: Bruno taught us about signal against It was Bruno who taught us about signal. Then they repeat it, stressing the focus.
Put a 15-second timer on the board while pairs read Amara's speaker notes aloud, one slide each: when time runs out, the slide moves on, finished or not.
For an in-company group, host a lightning-talk hour: each learner gives a five-minute talk on their own work, and every listener posts one comment that starts What I liked most was…
One-to-one, correct with an it-cleft: when the learner gets a detail wrong, answer No, it was the comma that broke the price, and have them correct your mistakes the same way.

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The whole course: English for IT B2 · Beyond the Code

24 lessons at B2 for software teams, in American English. A year on at Kestrel Cloud, a fictional payments startup, Iryna and her team estimate work, write docs and postmortems, argue trade-offs, give demos and negotiate scope. Each lesson starts from a real case, from the Apollo 11 alarms to Conway's law.See the course

Unit 1 Planning and estimates
estimates and deadlines: approximating numbers, the future continuous and perfect, likelihood
Unit 2 Docs people read
specs and design docs: modals for requirements, participle clauses, plain English
Unit 3 Incidents and postmortems
telling an incident without blame: narrative tenses, the passive, the third conditional
Unit 4 Architecture and trade-offs
comparing options and recording decisions: contrast linkers, modals of deduction, mixed conditionals
Unit 5 Demos and tech talks
a clear structure on stage: signposting, cleft sentences, describing trends
1. Lesson 13The mother of all demosSignposting language for demos
2. Lesson 14 · you're here20 slides, 15 secondsCleft sentences for emphasis
3. Lesson 15Numbers that tell a storyDescribing graphs and trends
Unit 6 Stakeholders and scope
saying no and finding yes: diplomatic language, as long as and unless, negotiating
Unit 7 AI, security and ethics
AI tools, passwords and team rules: be used to and get used to, past modals of deduction, purpose linkers
Unit 8 Growing your career
feedback, retros and goals: phrasal verbs, reporting verbs, wish and if only

Questions about this lesson

What are cleft sentences?

Cleft sentences split one idea into two clauses to stress one part. We need a stronger ending becomes What we need is a stronger ending, which saves the key words for last; Bruno taught us about signal becomes It was Bruno who taught us about signal, which spotlights the person. The name comes from the verb cleave, to split.

What is an example of a cleft sentence?

A typical example is What matters is that a retry never pays out twice: the What-clause builds up, and the stressed part comes last. Others stress different things: It was Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis who started Ignite (people), All you have to do is keep one idea per slide (the only thing) and The reason we test on paper first is that paper is cheap (a reason).

What's the difference between an it-cleft and a wh-cleft?

An it-cleft puts the focus right after It is or It was, then adds that or who: It's the small things that decide whether a merchant trusts the app. It's handy for corrections: It was Erin, not the team, who found the comma bug. A wh-cleft saves the focus for the end, after What + clause + is: What surprised us most was how merchants use the app.

When do you use cleft sentences?

Use them for the one or two points listeners must remember: a key message (What I want you to remember is…), a correction (No, it was a merchant who found it) or a reason (The reason is that…). They suit talks, demos and feedback, where the voice can stress the focus too. Don't stack them, though: a talk made only of clefts sounds forced.

Is it "What we need is" or "What we need it is"?

It's What we need is, with no extra it: What we need is a stronger ending. The whole What-clause is the subject, so an added it gives the verb a second one. When the focus is one thing, the verb is singular too: What surprised us was the speed of the slides, not were. A true-or-false drill in 20 slides, 15 seconds on edio.ai sets both traps.

Is it "It's the timer that" or "It's the timer what"?

Say It's the timer that keeps talks short: an it-cleft joins with that, or who for people, never what. So it's It was Rui who found the punchline, not It was Rui which found it. What starts the other kind of cleft instead: What keeps talks short is the timer. Feedback replies in the chat of 20 slides, 15 seconds, an edio.ai lesson for B2 software teams, set what and who as traps.

Is it "the reason is that" or "the reason is because"?

In careful English, use The reason is that…: The reason we test on paper first is that paper is cheap. Reason already means because, so The reason is because… says it twice; it's common in speech, but editors and teachers often mark it wrong. The problem is that… works the same way: The problem with bad signal is that the app never hears back.

What is an Ignite talk?

An Ignite talk is a five-minute talk of 20 slides that advance automatically, one every 15 seconds, so the speaker can't slow down or skip ahead. The format began in Seattle on December 7, 2006, started by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis, and its motto is Enlighten us, but make it quick. Any very short talk, often five minutes or less, can be called a lightning talk.

How do you give feedback on a presentation in English?

Start with what worked, then name one change, and keep it specific. Cleft sentences help: What worked best was your first slide: one clear key message. It was slides four to six that felt rushed. All you need to do is cut one sentence from every slide. In 20 slides, 15 seconds, a B2 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, students choose replies like these in a chat with a colleague after his lightning talk.

How do I teach cleft sentences to B2 learners?

Teach them as a tool for stress, not as a transformation: show a plain sentence beside its cleft and ask what the speaker wants you to notice. Then practice the voice, a little louder and slower on the focus, and give learners a reason to use the forms, such as a one-minute talk built on It was… that taught me… or All you have to do is… Open boxes in this lesson set talks like these.

What's good homework for practicing cleft sentences?

Good homework makes students choose what to stress in their own talk, then say it against the clock. In 20 slides, 15 seconds on edio.ai, a phrase bank, a choose-the-option drill on a thank-you post and sentence halves come first and check themselves; then students script six 15-second slides about something they learned at work, with at least four cleft sentences, and record the talk for the teacher.

Are there interactive exercises for cleft sentences?

Yes: rewrite-for-emphasis gap-fills give instant feedback on cleft sentences. This page plays four parts of 20 slides, 15 seconds, a B2 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, without an account: the program for an hour of lightning talks, a rehearsal in which two colleagues sharpen their talks, a gap-fill that rewrites sentences for emphasis and a chat in which students give feedback on a talk. The rest is locked.

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About this lesson

What's inside

Vocabulary

Grammar: cleft sentences for emphasis

Five ways to stress one part

From plain to stressed

Build a What-cleft

Plain or stressed?

Louder on the focus, and not too often

Four slips: it, what, were, because

Typical mistakes

From today's lesson

Try the cleft sentences exercises

What's in the lesson

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

Teaching tips

Teach the whole lesson in edio

Start a free trial

Open the lesson

Teach it live or as homework

The whole course: English for IT B2 · Beyond the Code

Unit 1 Planning and estimates

Unit 2 Docs people read

Unit 3 Incidents and postmortems

Unit 4 Architecture and trade-offs

Unit 5 Demos and tech talks

Unit 6 Stakeholders and scope

Unit 7 AI, security and ethics

Unit 8 Growing your career

Questions about this lesson

Teach this lesson with your students