Jooney Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Wh-cleft
Hi,
A: Now of course we all know that snacking is not great for our waistline. But you say that snacking is also not so great for our gum line.
B: Yeah, that's so true. Because every time you snack, the natural bacteria in your mouth produces acids. And what that does is it breaks down your food. But unfortunately it can also break down your tooth enamel as well.
The above dialogue is from a video clip on dental care.
I have a question about the underlined sentence. In a wh-cleft construction, the thing that corresponds to the subject of the uncleft sentence is not repeated in the forgegrounded part of the sentence. For example,
What she did was protect her child.
You don't say
What she did was she protected her child.
So how should I go about understanding an example like the one in the above dialogue?
I'd appreciate your help.
A: Now of course we all know that snacking is not great for our waistline. But you say that snacking is also not so great for our gum line.
B: Yeah, that's so true. Because every time you snack, the natural bacteria in your mouth produces acids. And what that does is it breaks down your food. But unfortunately it can also break down your tooth enamel as well.
The above dialogue is from a video clip on dental care.
I have a question about the underlined sentence. In a wh-cleft construction, the thing that corresponds to the subject of the uncleft sentence is not repeated in the forgegrounded part of the sentence. For example,
What she did was protect her child.
You don't say
What she did was she protected her child.
So how should I go about understanding an example like the one in the above dialogue?
I'd appreciate your help.
Top answer
The correct versions are 'What that does is break down your food' and 'What she did was protect her child'. Rover
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The correct versions are
'What that does is break down your food'
and
'What she did was protect her child'.
Rover
'What that does is break down your food'
and
'What she did was protect her child'.
Rover
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jooneySo how do you explain an example like the one in the above dialogue?It's an alternate, non-standard pattern for
What that does is break down your food.
Similarly,
What he likes most is he likes to collect glassware.
What they do is they meet every Thursday for lunch.
What Karen did to solve the
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Thank you very much for the great examples, CJ! Your explanations are always so easy to understand! 
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