Collins Cobuild English Grammar (165 page)

The following list contains three-word phrasal verbs used in the passive:

do away with

live up to

look down on

look forward to

look out for

look up to

play around with

talk down to

USAGE NOTE

9.24
     Note that in informal spoken English,
get
is sometimes used instead of
be
to form the passive.

Our car
gets cleaned
about once every two months.
Before that, I’d
got arrested
by the police.

     In present perfect passive and past perfect passive sentences formed with
get
, American English uses
gotten
rather than
got
.

I had cheated and lied, and
I’d gotten caught
. (American)

Selecting focus: split sentences

9.25
    One way of focusing on a particular part of a sentence is to use a
split sentence
. This involves using the verb
be
, either with
it
as an impersonal subject or with a clause such as a relative clause or a
to
-infinitive clause. Other grammars sometimes refer to split sentences as
cleft sentences
.

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:

to describe a place or situation

It
’s lovely here.

to talk about the weather or to say what the time is.