Spotlight / Focus
Focus
Emphasis
Cleft
Contrastive focus
What is the most important new information?
booster
intermediate
Information structure
Значение
The part of the message that carries the main emphasis, contrast, correction, or answer to the current question.
Как распознать
Ask which part would be stressed or corrected in context.
Примеры
Слова
only|even|it was|not X but Y
Фразы
it was Anna who|ANNA did it|only Peter
Предложение
Anna bought the book, not Peter.
Visual guide
Basic shape
Message = background + focus Who bought the book? background: bought the book FOCUS: Anna Anna bought the book. = Anna, not Peter
Compare shape
Same focus, many shapes Stress: ANNA did it Cleft: it was Anna who... Particle: only Peter Contrast: not X but Y Word order/focus slot may mark it Task: find the spotlight
Разбор по языкам
В вашем языке
Russian
Выраженность
strong
Важность
Focus is marked by word order, stress, and particles such as именно or только.
Именно он пришёл.
Exactly he came.
В изучаемом языке
Bengali (standard)
Выраженность
strong
Сложность
Focus can be shown by stress, word order and particles such as -ই.
আমি-ই কাজটা করেছি।
I myself did the work.
Типичная трудность
Learners may miss the strong exclusive/corrective force of -ই.
Good transfer potential
This block behaves relatively similarly, so you can transfer intuition more safely between the two languages.