Is 'The Emphatic Pattern' common in colloquial English?

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Hiya Raymond

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The Emphatic Pattern is included in the English exam of Chinese high school,but I'm not sure if we are learning the pedant English.

The origianl sentence: My father did the experiment in the lab yesterday evening.
Emphasizing subject: It was my father who did the experiment in the lab yesterday evening.
Emphasizing object: It was the experiment that my father did in the lab yesterday evening.
Emphasizing time: It was yesterday evening that my father did the experiment in the lab.
Emphasizing place: It was in the lab that my father did the experiment yesterday evening.

Thanks!
 

probus

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I don't think you should use the phrase "the pedant English." You might hurt our feelings. :)

But that apart, I think you are receiving very good and clear teaching on the matter of emphasis.
 

tzfujimino

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Hello, Hiya Raymond.:-D

As for 'cleft sentences', Michael Swan writes:

"They are useful in writing (because we cannot use intonation for emphasis in written language), but they are also common in speech."
(Practical English Usage Third Edition page 106)

I hope it helps.
 

Hiya Raymond

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Is 'apart' a adverb in the phrase of 'but that apart'? Is that a shortened phrase?

Thank you very much for your answers!
 

probus

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Apart is indeed an adverb. You could also say "Apart from that."
 

Hiya Raymond

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Could a adverb modify a noun,or something else?
 

probus

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Could a adverb modify a noun,or something else?

Of course not. Don't be silly. ;-) When we are faced with a construction such as "so fun" we are forced to conclude that fun has morphed from a noun into an adjective, not that the fundamental rules of grammar have changed
 
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