Study materials
One sentence, four versions. The fact in them is identical, and the emphasis lands on a different word each time.
Maya solved the problem on Friday.
It was Maya who solved the problem.
It was on Friday that Maya solved it.
Maya did solve the problem.
English cannot simply raise its voice on paper. Instead it rebuilds the sentence so that the word you mean lands in the focus position.
The it-structure: focus straight after be
The simplest way of singling out one element. The sentence opens with it was or it is, the focused item follows, and the rest attaches with who or that.
It was the manager who made the decision.
It was in Lviv that we first met.
It wasn't the price that worried us.
Almost anything can be focused: a person, a time, a place, a reason. Only the action itself cannot; there are other ways for that.
The what-structure: focus at the end
Here the order is reversed. What is known comes first, packed into a what-clause, and the new element stands at the end, in the strongest position of the sentence.
What we need is more time.
What surprised me was the price.
This structure can focus the action too, which the it-version cannot. The verb do then appears inside the what-clause.
What she did was rewrite the whole report.
All I want is a straight answer.
The version with all sounds more insistent than what: it adds a shade of "and nothing else".
Do for confirmation
When your listener doubts or denies something, the auxiliary do is slipped into a positive sentence. The content does not change; the insistence does.
I did tell you.
She does know the answer.
Do come in.
The thing to remember: after do the verb returns to its base form. Did tell, never did told.
What goes where
The three structures differ by where the new element ends up.
| Structure | Where the focus is | What can be focused |
|---|---|---|
| It was ... who | straight after be | a person, time, place, reason |
| What ... is | at the end of the sentence | a thing, a need, an action |
| do plus verb | on the verb itself | confirmation of the fact |
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is keeping the ending on the verb after do.
I did told you. → I did tell you.
The second is taking the wrong linking word.
It was Maya which solved it. → It was Maya who solved it.
The third is overusing these structures.
It was on Friday that it was Maya who finally solved it.
All three are caught by one question. What exactly is new and important here? Only one thing can be focused at a time.
Try it right now
Take a neutral sentence about your working week and rebuild it three times: with it, with what, and with emphatic do.
Then read all four versions in a row and decide which of them genuinely adds something.