Transcript That Clauses That - eesl542dwinter2012

Anna Hefley
Ghadah Althunayyan
HyunMi Lee
Chapter 20

Subject clauses appear in subject position in
sentences.

The four types of clauses together are
sometimes called noun clauses.

We will also examine certain structures that can
be used instead of sentence with subject clauses
and look at discourse factors that favor the use
of subject clause and of these related structures.

All verbs allow noun phrases to occur as subject:
NP as Subject
John/He
Alan's sister

Verb
bought
Object
a plane ticket.
Some verbs also permit subordinate clauses to appear in this position;
the clause in subject position is introduced by that.
Clause as Subject
Verb
Object
[That she didn't reply immediately] doesn't surprise him.

Unlike NP subjects, clauses in subject position generally cannot undergo
subject-auxinversion .
* Doesn't [ that she did not reply immediately] surprise him?
Types of Subordinate Clauses
①
Infinitive Clauses
②
Gerund Clauses
③
That Clauses
④
Interrogative Clauses

Infinitive clauses contain a verb in its infinitive form. They
are nonfinite clauses in that their verb, being in the infinitive
form, doesn't carry tense. Infinitive clauses may have a
subject which is preceded by for. The for is a complementizer
– a type of subordinator whose only function is to introduce
dependent clause. For more frequently, infinitive clauses
have no over subject. In (b) the subject it typically
understood as "people in general."
a.
For John to ignore her advise would be foolish.
b.
To write good poetry requires as much practice as talent.
Infinitive clauses can appear
in subject position before:

verbs including amuse,
cause, delight and occur.
To ask someone for help simply
wouldn't occur to my father.

be + adjectives including easy,
difficult, foolish, good, and
impossible.
To fool him is not particularly
difficult.

be + nouns including error,
mistake, offense, and task.
To get a simple yes or no answer out
of her is a real task.
Gerund clauses contain a verb in present participle form.
They are nonfinite clauses, not marked for tense. The subject
may be in a possessive form as in (a), or a possessive
pronoun as in (b). If it has no overt subject, it begins with a
present participle as in (c).
a.
Alan's refusing our invitation took us completely by
surprise.
b.
His refusing our invitation took us completely by surprise.
c.
Writing good poetry requires as much practice as talent.
That clauses are introduced by that and include a subject and a past or
present tense verb, as in (a) and (b), or a modals in (c). Because they
have tensed verb, that clauses are a type of finite clause. That clauses
occur before:
verbs including amaze, bother, deter, illustrate, indicate, and surprise.
That he continues to visit her regularly after all these years amaze me.

be + adjectives including apparent, clear, disconcerting, evident,
important, and remarkable.
That he managed to get his degree at all is truly remarkable.

be + nouns including accident, asset, factor, miracle, result (of), source
(of).
That he would say such a thing is the result of his utter lack of
understanding.

Interrogative clauses, or embedded question clauses, begin with a
wh- element. They are finite clauses, having a present or past
tense verb or modal.
 verbs including bother, concern, depend on, determine, interest,
and matter.
Whether he can get a scholarship will depend on his grade.

be+ adjectives including arguable, certain, clear, debatable,
important, obvious, relevant, and significant. The main clause is
often negative.
How he plans to do that is not clear.

be+ noun including concern, issue, matter, and problem. The
main clause is often negative.
Whether he completes it today or tomorrow is not the issue.

Subject Clause
Types
QUESTION
Subject Clause
Types
ANSWERS
Anna Hefley
Ghadah Althunayyan
HyunMi Lee
Chapter 20

Tough movement and subject raising sentences are
alternative to sentences with subject clauses.

Involve the movement of an NP from an extraposed subject
clause into subject position in the main clause.

Possible only in sentences with certain main clause verbs or
certain adjectives or nouns following be.
TOUGH MOVEMENT SENTENCES
The object, subject or object of a preposition of an infinitive clause in
an extraposition pattern sentence may be moved out of its clause
into position occupied by it, to produce a sentence identical in
meaning. This movement is called tough movement.
It is easy [to understand this lesson]. OBJECT
This lesson is easy [to understand].
It’s easy for John [to understand this lesson]. SUBJECT
This lesson is easy for John [to understand].
It’s a real pleasure to work with John. OBJECT OF PREPOSITION
John is a real pleasure to work with.

Tough movement can be applied only
to clauses containing be or a similar
verb, followed by:
 an ease/difficulty adjective such as
dangerous, difficult, easy, fun, hard,
impossible, pleasant, simple, tough, or
wonderful
 an NP that has similar ease/difficulty
meaning such as a chore, a cinch, a joy, a
pain, a piece of cake, a pleasure, a snap

Tough movement applied to sentences in
which be is followed by an adjective or NP that
is not a member of the ease/difficulty set,
produces ungrammatical sentences.
It is possible to see the doctor.
*The doctor is possible to see.
It is a real honor to work with Professor Hobson.
*Professor Hobson is a real honor to work with.
Verbs: appear, happen, seem can occur in sentences following
an infinitive clause, the subject of which has bees moved to the
subject position in the main clause.
seems
Edith happens to enjoy my company.
appears
Subject raising rule: moves the subject of the infinitive clause
into subject position in the main clause.
The subject raising rule also applies to sentences with
be followed by any adjective that expresses a degree of
probability, such as certain, likely, or unlikely.
likely
The value of the dollar is unlikely to go up in January.
certain
This sentence is the result of subject raising rule:
As with the verbs, with many of these adjectives, equivalent
sentences with extraposed that clauses are possible. It is also
correct to say:
It is likely that the value of the dollar will go up in January.
He is sure to complain about something.
apt
* It is sure that he will complain about something.
apt
Subject raising sentences are
much more frequent than
sentences with extraposed that
clauses, both with verbs like
seem and appear and with
adjectives such as (un)likely and
certain, in both spoken and
written English. The NP that
subject raising positions at the
start of the sentence is often
one that has an anaphoric link to
the preceding discourse.
The first thing he thought of when he woke up was Anna.
She wasn’t likely to take a taxi to Naples.
The pronoun she in the subject raising sentence is more directly
linked to the antecedent Anna in the previous sentence that it
would be in the alternative with extraposition.
It wasn’t likely that she would take a taxi to Naples.
Factors (less common) that may favor extraposition factor:

To attribute a perception to someone or something, a writer
or speaker can use seem or appear followed by a to
prepositional phrase and then the extraposed that clause.
It seemed to her that she was losing control of her temper.

Principle of end weight favors the extraposition pattern
when the that clause subject is a long, complex NP, as
subject raising would move this NP to an initial position.
Such sentences originate in academic prose.
The report states that it is likely that more than half of all
conventional gas reserves that will be ultimately produced in
the United States have already been produced.
Sentence (1) has the same pattern as (2), a subject raising
sentence, and (3) a tough movement sentence.
1. John is eager to please.
2. John is certain to please.
3. John is easy to please.
However, unlike (2) and other subject raising sentences (1) does
not have a grammatical extraposed counterpart with a that
clause, as example (4) demonstrates.
* It is eager that John will please.
(Cf. It is certain that John will please.)
Unlike “John is easy to please” and other tough movement sentences,
“John is eager to please” does not have a grammatical extraposed
version with an infinitive complement.
*It is eager to please John.
(Cf. It is easy to please John.)
“John is eager to please” has a different structure than
John is eager [(John) to please (someone)], which reflects our
intuitions that the subject of the infinitive complement in [] is
identical to the main clause subject.
Sentences like “John is eager to please” always have adj of willingness
or ability (like able, eager, eligible, free, ready, welcome, willing)
between the main clause verb be and following infinitive clause.