italiano · B2 · grammar · 4 minutes
Focus and register
Use dislocation, cleft frames, and pronoun resumption while matching formality to context.
Understand the choice
Italian word order is flexible because endings and pronouns preserve roles. Focus structures guide attention, while register determines whether a dislocation sounds natural or overly conversational.
Core rule: Cleft-like è…che focuses one constituent; left dislocation resumes an object with a pronoun and is especially common in speech.
Notice it in context
È questa la soluzione che il comitato ha scelto.
This is the solution the committee chose.
È questa foregrounds soluzione; che links it as object of ha scelto.
È Giulia che presenterà i risultati.
Giulia is the one who will present the results.
The cleft focuses the subject Giulia.
Questo documento, l’ho già mandato.
This document, I have already sent it.
Spoken left dislocation resumes documento with l’ and triggers participle mandato.
What to remember
- Dislocation is normal in conversation and informal writing but should be controlled in formal prose.
- Formal requests often use conditional and Lei rather than only adding per favore.
Common trap: Do not front an object and then omit its resumptive pronoun in ordinary colloquial dislocation.