There-cleft Sentence Construction A syntax mini-lesson

There Cleft- Construction “Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience.” -- MLK, from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

What does the sentence do? As opposed to: Of course nothing is new about this kind of civil disobedience. “There” strongly focuses our attention on “nothing new” in: Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience.

There-cleft A sentence construction that helps us place emphasis toward the end of the sentence or where we want it. It is called a “cleft” because the sentence is “cleaved” “divided” and rearranged. A sentence pattern you can look for.