It can be used with who and that-clauses to emphasize one part of a sentence.
Study the examples given below.
My father gave me a laptop on my birthday.
We can express the same idea in three different ways.
- It was my father who gave me a laptop on my birthday. (In this sentence, the emphasis is on the noun ‘my father’.)
- It was a laptop that my father gave me on my birthday. (In this sentence the emphasis is on the noun ‘laptop’.)
- It was on my birthday that my father gave me a laptop. (In this case, the emphasis is on the word ‘my birthday’.)
Rewrite the following sentences in three different ways shifting the emphasis to another word. Begin with ‘it’.
Tagore got the Nobel Prize for his Geethanjali.
- It was Tagore who got the Nobel Prize for Geethanjali. (Emphasis on Tagore)
- It was the Nobel Prize that Tagore got for his Geethanjali. (Emphasis on Nobel Prize)
- It was for Geethanjali that Tagore got the Nobel Prize. (Emphasis on Geethanjali)
I met John at the airport.
- It was I who met John at the airport.
- It was John who I met at the airport.
- It was at the airport that I met John.
My aunt took Peter to Tokyo yesterday.
- It was Peter that my aunt took to Tokyo yesterday.
- It was my aunt who took Peter to Tokyo yesterday.