It's the Little Things (cleft sentences)

It's the Little Things

What really annoys me is…

B2 · 60 minutes

Small annoyances

TASK In pairs. Rank these from most annoying to least annoying. Agree on one reason for your top one.

Long queues

Voice notes

Slow walkers

Open-plan offices

Phone calls

Guess the guest

Sofía is a guest on a podcast about everyday annoyances. Four of the five things from the warmer annoy her. One doesn't.

TASK In pairs. Make a guess before you read.

Which one doesn't bother Sofía?

1

Why might it not bother her?

2

Small Things, episode 12

TASK Read the transcript. Was your guess right?

Small Things is a podcast about everyday annoyances. This week, hosts Dev and Hannah talk to Sofía, who has written a newspaper column about them for ten years.

Queues

Hannah: Sofía, let's start with queues. What's the problem?

Sofía: What really annoys me is people who stand right behind you. I can feel them reading my phone over my shoulder.

Dev: Or pushing a trolley into your ankles.

Sofía: Exactly. Strangely, it's only at the supermarket that this happens to me.

Phone calls

Sofía: Calling a company is the worst. Last week I rang my internet provider. All I wanted was a quick answer about my router. What happened was I spent forty minutes on hold, and then the line went dead.

Hannah: So what did you do?

Sofía: What I did was write them a very polite email. All I did was ask one question, and it took me a whole afternoon.

Voice notes

Dev: I hate getting a four-minute voice note when one line of text would do. Sofía, you must hate them too.

Sofía: Actually, they don't bother me at all. A friend in Lima got me into them. I hate typing long messages, and what I like about voice notes is hearing a real voice.

Dev: So what's the thing that annoys you most?

Sofía: People who say they'll "just be two minutes".

The office

Hannah: You work in an open-plan office, so I guess you hate the noise.

Sofía: No, it's not the noise that bothers me, it's having no privacy. I can wear headphones, but everyone can see my screen.

Dev: In ours, it's the two people at the next desk who make all the noise.

Slow walkers

Hannah: What drives me mad is when people walk slowly side by side and you can't get past.

Sofía: It's so annoying when they stop at the top of the stairs. What I do is say "Excuse me" very loudly.

Next week: is it ever OK to lean your seat back on a plane?

Who said it?

TASK Who said it, or did it? Choose Dev, Hannah or Sofía.

1

spent forty minutes on hold

Dev

Hannah

Sofía

2

thought a guest must hate voice notes

Dev

Hannah

Sofía

3

guessed that the noise was the problem in an open-plan office

Dev

Hannah

Sofía

4

says "Excuse me" very loudly

Dev

Hannah

Sofía

5

asked Sofía what she did after the line went dead

Dev

Hannah

Sofía

6

has noisy people at the next desk

Dev

Hannah

Sofía

Read it again

TASK Look at these sentences from the transcript.

It's not the noise that bothers me, it's having no privacy.

1

2

All I wanted was a quick answer.

What really annoys me is people who stand right behind you.

3

Complete them

TASK Find these sentences in the transcript. Complete each gap with one word.

1

__________ drives me mad is when people walk slowly side by side.

2

What happened __________ I spent forty minutes on hold.

3

It's the two people at the next desk who __________ all the noise.

4

All I did __________ ask one question.

5

What I __________ is say "Excuse me" very loudly.

6

Strangely, it's only at the supermarket __________ this happens to me.

Plain or emphatic

TASK Complete the empty half of each row.

Plain

With emphasis

I hate typing long messages.

What ________________

A friend in Lima got me into voice notes. (Focus: a friend in Lima)

It ________________

________________

It's only on Mondays that the café is this busy.

Grammar reference

What + clause + be + the focus

What really annoys me is people who… · What I hate is typing. · What drives me mad is when people… · An action: What I did was write an email (do + verb, no to). All I wanted was… = the only thing. Easier: The thing that annoys me is…

It is / was + the focus + who / that + the rest

It's not the noise that bothers me, it's having no privacy. · It was a friend who got me into them. · A time or place: It's only on Mondays that…

be

follows the tense of the first part: What I need is… / What I wanted was… · Always It is / It was.

who / that

who or that for people, that for things. Never what: It's the noise that bothers me, not the noise what.

the verb

agrees with the focus: It's my neighbours who make the noise.

Say the focus strongly: It's not the NOISE that bothers me, it's having no PRIVACY.

CAREFUL

Take away It's … that and a whole sentence is left: The noise bothers me. It's so annoying when people stop fails the test: it isn't this pattern. And never drop be: What I need is a holiday, not What I need a holiday.

Right or wrong?

TASK Four of these sentences have a mistake. Find and correct them.

1

It's the smell what I can't stand.

2

What I need is a long weekend.

3

It's the students next door who plays loud music at night.

4

What I did I called the manager.

5

It was my flatmate who found the keys.

6

When I got home, all I wanted is a cup of tea.

What's the situation?

TASK Which situation does each sentence answer? Choose A, B or C.

1

It wasn't the waiter who was rude, it was the manager.

A

B

C

2

All I asked for was a glass of water.

A

B

C

3

What happened was the taxi went to the wrong airport.

A

B

C

4

It was only one extra pillow that I asked for.

A

B

C

5

What bothers me isn't the price, it's the size of the portions.

A

B

C

6

What I did was call the hotel from the train.

A

B

C

someone picked the wrong person or thing

someone asks what happened or what you did

A

B

C

someone says you asked for too much

Make it stand out

TASK Complete the second sentence so it means the same as the first. Use the word in capitals.

1

The noise from the flat upstairs keeps me awake.

WHAT

4

The train was cancelled, so I took a taxi.

WHAT

________ the noise from the flat upstairs.

The train was cancelled, so ________ take a taxi.

2

I only asked for the bill, and the waiter got angry.

ALL

5

The heating broke on Saturday, not on Friday.

IT

________ for the bill, and the waiter got angry.

________ that the heating broke, not on Friday.

3

My brother left the door open, not me.

IT

6

Two of my colleagues leave the lights on, not the cleaners.

IT

________ left the door open, not me.

________ the lights on, not the cleaners.

You've got me wrong

TASK In pairs. Correct your partner's wrong guesses, then say what really annoys you.

1

Note three small things that annoy you: just the topic (buses, my phone, meetings).

Tell your partner one topic. Your partner makes a wrong guess on purpose: "So it's the noise you hate?"

2

Correct the guess, then say what really annoys you: "No, it's not… that bothers me, it's…" "What really annoys me is…"

3

Swap, and go through all your topics. Then tell the class one of your partner's: "What annoys my partner about buses is…"

4

Homework

TASK This email is too flat. Rewrite it so the four points below stand out. Use today's patterns, at least three different ones.

Dear Customer Services,

I stayed at your hotel last weekend. I asked for a quiet room and you gave me a room next to the lift. The lift didn't really bother me. The cleaners bothered me: they knocked on my door at 7 a.m. on both days. On Sunday I only wanted to sleep until nine. I phoned reception, and someone there laughed. I'm not asking for money back. I'd like an apology.

Best regards

1

The lift wasn't the problem: the cleaners were.

2

On Sunday you wanted only one thing.

3

What you did on Sunday morning.

4

What you'd like from the hotel.

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key (1)

GUESS THE GUEST

Voice notes she hates typing long messages, likes hearing a real voice, and a friend got her into them.

WHO SAID IT?

1 Sofía · 2 Dev · 3 Hannah · 4 Sofía · 5 Hannah · 6 Dev

COMPLETE THEM

1 What · 2 was · 3 make · 4 was · 5 do · 6 that

RIGHT OR WRONG?

Right 2, 5

1 It's the smell that I can't stand. (or: It's the smell I can't stand.)

3 It's the students next door who play loud music at night. (or: It's the student next door who plays loud music at night.)

4 What I did was call the manager.

6 When I got home, all I wanted was a cup of tea.

PLAIN OR EMPHATIC

1 What I hate is typing long messages.

2 It was a friend in Lima who (or that) got me into voice notes.

3 The café is only this busy on Mondays. / The café is this busy only on Mondays.

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key (2)

WHAT'S THE SITUATION?

A 1, 5

B 3, 6

C 2, 4

MAKE IT STAND OUT

1 What keeps me awake is

2 All I did was ask

3 It was my brother who (or that)

4 what I did was

5 It was on Saturday

6 It's two of my colleagues who (or that) leave

HOMEWORK (POSSIBLE ANSWERS)

1 It wasn't the lift that bothered me, it was the cleaners. / What bothered me wasn't the lift, it was the cleaners.

2 All I wanted on Sunday was to sleep until nine.

3 What I did was phone reception, and someone there laughed.

4 What I'd like is an apology. / It's an apology I'd like, not money back.