Pullum_geoffrey_k_a_student_s_introduction

1 . Classify the following according to clause type, and say what kind of speech act they would most likely be used to perfonn.

i Please tum the lighton.

iiIadvise you to accept their offe r.

iiiIadvised her to accept their offe r.

ivCan you close that doorplease. v You're leaving already?

viWhere shall Iput my coat?

viiWhat a senseless waste of human life it was.

viiiHave a nice day.

ixAren't we lucky!

x Allow me to congratulate you.

2.Fonn open interrogatives from the follow­ ing declaratives, replacing the underlined phrase with a corresponding interrogative phrase such as who, what, when, etc.

i She said something to them.

iiSomeone has taken my umbrella.

iiiHe sold his car to someone.

ivHe thinks they'll appoint someone. v They left early for some reason.

viYou told her I was going somewhere.

viiYoufirst suspected he was the murderer at some time.

viiiThings have changedfor you way since last year.

ixYou think someone has the most

influence with these people.

xWe can get somebody to clear up this mess.

3.Attach the proper reverse polarity tags to the following declaratives.

i You don 't know where toput it.

iiShe believes everything you say.

Exercises

1 73

iiiEveryone thought it was impossible.

ivThey used to live in Baltimore. v There is nofuturefor us.

4.Interrogative tags can also be attached to

imperative clauses, as in Don't tell anyone, will you? What tags could naturally be added to the following? (Where both reversed and constant polarity tags can be used, give them both, and comment on any difference between them.)

i Give this letter toAngela.

iiDon't show the letter to Angela.

iiiTake yourfeet off the sofa.

ivLet's take a break.

v Let's not waste any more time.

5. The following clauses are given without any final punctuation mark to avoid preju­ dicing things, so they don't confonn to nonnal written English. For each one, say whether it is (a) an open interrogative;

(b) an exclamative; or (c) ambiguous between open interrogative and exclamative. If your answer is (a) or (b), explain what grammatical factors make the clause unam­ biguous. If your answer is (c), comment on the difference in meaning.

i Who thinks it was awesome

iiHow much remains to be done

iiiHow didyou convince them

ivWhat a disappointment it was

vHow often have Itoldyou to lock up

viWhat idiotdevised this plan

viiWho cares about your stupidproject

viiiWhat kind offool do you take mefor

ixHow geeky I look in thatpropeller hat x Why don't you give them a chance

'-SUbordination and content clauses

I	Subordinate clauses 1 74
2	Clause type in content clauses 1 75
3	Declarative content clauses	175
4	Interrogative content clauses	1 77
5	Exclamative content clauses	1 80

1Subordinate clauses

Subordinate clauses characteristically function as dependent within some larger construction. The next higher clause in the structure is called the matrix clause.

Subordinate clauses often differ in their internal structure from main clauses. Some typical differences are illustrated in [ 1 ] :

[ I ]

a.

II a.

iii	a.

MAIN CLAUSE

Sue is the best candidate. He was looking at a book. Igave him my address.

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

b. Iagree that Sue is the best candidate. b. This is the book he was lookin at.

b. Imade a mistake in iving him m)!. address.

The underlined clause in [ib], a dependent in clause structure, is marked as sub­ ordinate by its introductory word that, which is a subordinator.

The underlined clause in [iib], a dependent in NP structure, is marked as subor­ dinate by having a missing NP, the understood object of the preposition at.

The underlined clause in [iiib], a dependent in pp structure, is marked as subor­ dinate by having its subject left understood and its verb in gerund-participle form.

The differences are generally greater in non-finite clauses than in finite ones, so in this and the next two chapters we focus on finite subordinate clauses (such as those in [ib/iib)), returning to non-finites (such as [iiib)) in Ch. 1 3 .

Content clause as the default kind of finite subordinate clause

There are three major subclasses of finite subordinate clause, illustrated in [2] :

[2]	RELATIVE CLAUSE	They weren't among the people who hadbeen invited.
II	COMPARATIVE CLAUSE	Morepeople came than had been invited.
III	CONTENT CLAUSE	Idon't think that thesepeople had been invited.

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§3. 1 The subordinator that

1 75

The relative clause underlined in [i] has as its subject a relative pronoun who with the preceding noun people as its antecedent.

The comparative clause underlined in [ii] has no overt subject at all.

Content clauses lack special properties of this kind. We can regard them as the default kind of finite subordinate clause, from which relative and comparative clauses differ in certain distinctive ways described in Ch. I I and Ch. 1 2.

The content clause in [iii] is introduced by the subordinator that, but the rest of the clause does not differ from that of the main clause These people had been invited. And the subordinator is in fact optional here: I don't think thesepeople had been invited is also grammatical.

Content clauses function predominantly as complement within the larger con­ struction: the one cited here, for example, is complement of the verb think.

2Clause type in content clauses

The system of clause type described for main clauses in Ch. 9 applies also to content clauses, except that imperatives are normally restricted to main clauses. In [3] we illustrate main clause and content clauses of the other four types:

[3]		MAIN CLAUSE	CONTENT CLAUSE
	DECLARATIVE	Liz is in Paris.	He says that Liz is in Paris.
ii	CLOSED INTERROGATIVE	Is she ill?	I wonder whether she is ill.
m OPEN INTERROGATIVE		Whatdo l!0U want?	Tell me what l!0U want.
iv	EXCLAMATIVE	What a bargain it is!	Tell her what a bargain it is.

In the following three sections we survey declarative, interrogative and exclamative content clauses respectively.

3Declarative content clauses

3. 1 The subordinator that

The major feature that can distinguish declarative content clauses from their main clause counterparts is the subordinator that. It is sometimes obligatory, sometimes optional, and sometimes inadmissible:

[4]	WITH SUBORDINATOR that
OBLIGATORY	That I need helv is clear.
II INADMISSIBLE	*1 left before that he arrived.
m OPTIONAL	I know that it's genuine.

WITHOUT SUBORDINATOR that *I need help is clear.

I left before he arrived. I know it's genuine.

The main place where that is obligatory is where the content clause is subject of the matrix clause, as in [4i]. It is likewise obligatory if the content clause is pre­ posed so as to precede the subject, as in That I need help I can't deny.

1 76 Chapter 1 0 Subordination and content clauses

That is inadmissible in a clause that is complement to a preposition like before in [ii] . Most prepositions exclude that; there are only a very few (such as notwith­ standing, in order, and provided), which allow it.

Elsewhere, that is in general optional, as we see in [iii] . It is more likely to be omitted in informal than in formal style, and it is more likely to be omitted after short and common verbs than after longer and less frequent ones. For example, in This will demonstrate that it is genuine the subordinator would probably not be omitted.

3.2Declaratives as complement

Declarative content clauses mostly function as complement of a verb, noun, adjective, or preposition. The range of complement functions is illustrated in [5] :

[5]SUBJECT

u EXTRAPOSED SUBJECT

III

IV INTERNAL COMP OF VERB

v

VI COMP OF NOUN

vu COMP OF ADJECTIVE Vlll COMP OF PREPOSITION

{Itdidn't surprise us that they refused. I ",a/i" thatyou fuel in,ulled.

She informed me that she hadbeen insulted. Theproblem is that we iust can't atlord it. You can't ignore thefact that he was drunk.

I'm gladthatyou could come.

You can go providedthatyou are careful.That they refused didn't surprise us.

In [i] the content clause is subject. It is licensed by surprise.

In [ii] we see a much more frequent kind of case than [i], but synonymous with it: the subordinate clause is extraposed (see Ch. 1 5, §3. 1 ).

In the next three examples, the content clause is internal complement to the verb of a clause: in [iii], the sole complement of realise; in [iv], the second com­ plement of inform; and in [v], the complement of be in its specifying sense.

In the next two the content clause is complement to the nounfact ([vi]) and the adjective glad ([vii]).

Finally in [viii] the content clause is complement of a preposition. As noted above, most prepositions disallow that, but provided (historically derived from the past participle of a verb) is one of the few that allow it. l

3.3The mandative construction

One special construction with a declarative content clause as complement is the mandative. This term is based on the element mandthat is found in demandand mandatory, two lexemes that license mandative complements. The meaning of

IThe tenn 'content clause' is not used in traditional grammar. The clauses that function as comple­ ments are traditionally called 'noun clauses' , but this is a highly misleading tenn. Content clauses aren't nouns, and it should be clear from the examples in [5] that they don't behave like nouns or NPs. Most importantly, nouns and NPs don't nonnally function as extraposed subject, or as complement to a noun or an adjective.

§4 Interrogative content clauses

1 77

mandatives includes a component of meaning comparable to that expressed by the modal auxiliary must (see Ch. 3, §8. l on deontic modality). The sentences in [6] illustrate; they are all similar in meaning to He must be told immediately.

[6]	SUBJUNCTIVE MANDATIVE	It is essential that he be told immediately.
11	Should MANDATIVE	It is essential that he should be told immediately.
III	COVERT MANDATIVE	It is essential that he is told immediately.

Variant [i] involves the sUbjunctive use of the plain form of the verb be.

In [ii] we have a special use of the modal auxiliary should; this should mandative is more common in BrE than in ArnE, where the subjunctive mandative is gener­ ally preferred.

With the covert variant [iii], nothing in the form of the content clause itself dis­ tinguishes the mandative use from ordinary non-mandative declaratives, as in I hope that he is told immediately (clearly non-mandative, since hope does not license a subjunctive complement).

With verbs other than be, and with subjects other than 3rd person singulars, the sub­ junctive and the covert mandative have the same form: It is essential that they tell him immediately.

Potential ambiguity

While content clause complements of demand, essential, mandatory, vital, and the like are always mandative, there are some lexemes such as insist and important that license both mandative and non-mandative complements, and here we see ambigu­ ities that show us the distinctness of the two constructions. These two examples make a sharp contrast:

[7]i I insisted that he meet her. [not ambiguous: SUbjunctive mandative]

iiI insisted that he met her. [either non-mandative or covert mandative]

Example [i] is unambiguously mandative by virtue of its subjunctive form. It car­ ries the deontic meaning "I made it a requirement for him to meet her". Example [ii], by contrast, is ambiguous. It can be understood as either a covert mandative meaning "I made it a requirement that he meet her" or (more proba­ bly) a non-mandative with the meaning "I emphatically asserted that he met her".

The same sort of ambiguity is found with important: a doctor who says It's impor­ tant that he drinks a lot might mean either "He should take plenty of fluids" or "The fact that he's a heavy drinker is significant" !

4Interrogative content clauses

Main clause interrogatives are characteristically used to ASK questions; subordinate interrogatives EXPRESS questions, but do not themselves ask them. Usually (but not always) the construction can be glossed with the formula "the answer to the question":

1 78 Chapter 1 0 Subordination and content clauses

[8]I know where he is. "I know the answer to the question 'Where is he?'"

11I told her what it was. "I told her the answer to the question 'What was it?' "

4.1 Closed interrogatives and the subordinators whether and if

Whereas main clause closed interrogatives are marked by subject­ auxiliary inversion, their subordinate counterparts are normally introduced by one of the interrogative subordinators whether and if,2 followed by basic subject­ predicate order:

[9]	ii		MAIN
		a.	Didhe accept the offer?
		a.	Willyou chair the meeting?

SUBORDINATE

b. I'm unsure whether he accepted the offer. b. He asked me if/'d chair the meeting.

Note that the inversion in [ia] requires the insertion of the dummy auxiliary do, but since there is no inversion in the subordinate version [ib], no do appears here.

4.2Open interrogatives

Open interrogatives, whether main or subordinate, are marked by the presence of an interrogative phrase containing one of the interrogative words who, what, which, etc. In main clauses the interrogative phrase usually occupies ini­ tial position, and, if it is not subject, its placement in this position triggers subject-auxiliary inversion. In subordinate clauses, on the other hand, the interrog­ ative phrase is initial and there is normally no inversion:

[ 10]	ii		MAIN
		a.	Which candidate spokefirst?
		a.	Why didshe resign?

SUBORDINATE

b. I can't say which candidate spoke first. b. It's obvious why she resigned.

4.3Interrogatives as complement

Like declaratives, interrogative content clauses usually function as complements, as illustrated in [ 1 1 ] :

[ 1 1 ]	ii	SUBJECT	{	What causedthe delay remains unclear.
		EXTRAPOSED SUBJECT		It remains unclear what caused the delay.
				I've di,eo",..d whae theykeep the key.
	iii	INTERNAL COMP OF VERB		I asked them whatprogress they had made.
	iv			The only issue is whether he was lying.
	v	COMP OF NOUN		The question whether it's legal was ignored.
	vi	COMP OF ADJECTIVE		I'm uncertain what we can do about it.
	viiivii	COMP OF PREPOSITION		That depends on how much time we have.

2 Recall that the interrogative subordinator if is to be distinguished from the preposition if that expresses conditional meaning: see Ch. 7. §2. 1 .

§4.4 Interrogatives as adjunct

179

The range of functions is almost like that illustrated for declaratives in [5] . One dif­ ference from declaratives, however, is that prepositions are often optional; for example, we could add o/after question in [vi], and we could omit on in [viii].

There is only partial overlap between the items that license declaratives and those that license interrogatives.

Know. for example, accepts both: 1 know she's right; 1 know what he did. Insist accepts only declaratives: 1 insist that she's right; *1 insist what he did. Inquire accepts only interrogatives: *1 inquire that he's ill; 1 inquiredwhat he did.

We have also noted that very few prepositions license declaratives, but there are more that accept interrogatives (like on in [viii]).

4.4Interrogatives as adjunct

There is one construction where subordinate interrogatives appear in adjunct function:

[ 1 2]	ii	CLOSED	He'l! complain, whether we meet during the week or at the week-end.
		OPEN	He'l! complain, whatever you ask him to do.

It follows from [i] that he'll complain if we meet during the week, and he'll com­ plain if we meet at the week-end, and these two conditions exhaust the options. So we know he'll complain.

Similarly in [ii], he'll complain if you ask him to peel the potatoes and he'll com­ plain if you ask him to set the table and so on: he'll complain for every possible x where you ask him to do x, so again it follows that he'll complain.

We call this the exhaustive conditional construction. It uses an interrogative clause to express a set of conditions that exhaustively cover the possibilities.

Why would this exhaustive conditional meaning be expressed by an interrogative form? Because the interrogative expresses a question whose answers define an exhaustive set of conditions.

For [i] the question is "Do we meet during the week or at the week-end?"; and this has a closed set of answers (just two of them).

For [ii] it is "What do (or will) you ask him to do?", which has an open set of answers.

Each possible answer represents a 'case', and the examples say that he will com­ plain no matter which of the possible cases turns out to be realised.

Note that the exhaustive element of meaning applies equally in an example like

He'll complain, whether we meet on Saturday or Sunday. Although there are other days than these two, the sentence presupposes, or takes it for granted, that we will meet on one or other of the two days mentioned, so in this context there are in fact just these two possible 'cases' .

SUBJECT EXTRAPOSED SUBJECT

INTERNAL COMP OF VERB COMP OF PREPOSITION COMP OF ADJECTIVE

What a bargain it was hadn'tyet struck me. It's incredible how much he wanted to charge. I'dforgotten what a fine speaker she is.

She was surprised at how ill he looked. She was surprised how ill he looked.

1 80 Chapter 1 0 Subordination and content clauses

Variants of the exhaustive conditional construction

There are two variants of the exhaustive conditional construction, one where the interrogative clause itself realises the adjunct function, as in [ 1 2], and one where the adjunct has the fonn of a larger phrase headed by independently, irrespective, regardless, or no matter, as in [ 1 3] .

[13]	He'll complain, [regardless of whether we meet during the week or at the week-end!.
Here theii	He'll complain, [no matter what you ask him to do].
	interrogative clauses are complements, as they are in [ 1 1 ] (in the case of

independently, irrespective, and regardless, complements of the preposition of).

In [ 1 2], where the interrogative clause is the adjunct, the internal fonn differs slightly from that of interrogatives in complement function. With open interroga­ tives, the interrogative word is compounded with 'ever, as in [ l 2ii] - or He'll com­ plain, whenever the meeting is held. With closed interrogatives the special feature is less obvious:i an or-coordination is obligatory. Compare these:

[14] He'll complain, whether we record theproceedings or not.

ii He'll complain, regardless of whether we record theproceedings (or not!.

Or not is omissible from [ii], where the interrogative is complement, but not from [i], where it is adjunct.

5Exclamative content clauses

Exclamative clauses, main or subordinate, are marked by an initial exclamative phrase containing how or what. In main but not subordinate clauses, subject-auxiliary inversion is PERMITTED if the exclamative phrase is in non­ subject function, but it is rare. For the most part, therefore, there is no internal dif­ ference between subordinate and main exclamatives. Compare:

[15]	i	a.	MAIN		SUBORDINATE
			How verykindyou are!	b.	I told them how very kind you are.
i		a.	What a shambles it was!	b.	I remember what a shambles it was.

Exclamatives as complement

Exclamative content clauses function exclusively as complements. They occur with much the same range of complement functions as other content clauses, though they are licensed by a far smaller set of lexemes. Examples are given in [ 1 6] :

[16] iiiivii

V

Exercises

1 8 1

Exclamatives vs open interrogatives

I n main clauses, exclamatives may be distinguished from open interrogatives solely by the absence of subject-auxiliary inversion, but since such inversion doesn't nor­ mally occur in subordinate interrogatives there may be ambiguity between excla­ mative and interrogative content clause constructions:

[17]

Do you remember how big it was?

[ambiguous: exclamative or interrogative]

".The exclamative interpretation presupposes it was remarkably big and asks whether you have recollections of that.

The interrogative content clause interpretation doesn't presuppose any size; it asks whether you remember the answer to the question "How big was it?". It may have been anywhere on the scale from extremely small to extremely big.

Exercises

1. Classify the following subordinate clauses					viii		a.	Can we rely on them?
(underlined) as finite or non-finite.							b.	I'm not certain [. . .].
i		They told us not to start without them.			ix		a.	It was a serious mistake.
ii	WhypeQple behave like that is a mystery						b.	[. . .] is now indisputable.
	to me.					x	a. Do you have any idea how much it
iii	They insisted that eveO'one have eQual							cost?
	voting rights.						b.	I'm not sure [. . .].
iv		We object to their being given mecial		3.	For each of the lexemes below, say whether
	privileges.				or not it can license the following types of
v		Everyone knows YOU cringe when she			content clause complement : (a) mandative;
	walks by.				(b) other declarative; (c) closed interroga­
2. In each of the following pairs, embed a					tive; (d) open interrogative; (e) exclama­
subordinate counterpart of the main clause					tive. (Note that closed interrogatives some­
[a] in the position marked '[ . . . ]' in [b], and					times occur more readily in non-affirmative
identify the clause type and function of the					than in affirmative contexts: before giving a
subordinate clause.					'no' answer for (c), therefore, test with a
	i	a.	Why did she resign?		negative matrix clause as well as a positive
		b.	It's not clear to me [. . .].		one.) Give an example to support each 'yes'
	ii	a.	It was a hoax.		answer.
		b.	Fewpeople believe the rumour [. . . ].		i	advise			vi	idea
iii		a.	Is it a serious threat?		ii	ask			vii	inquire
		b.	[. . .] remains to be seen.		iii	convince			viii	learn
iv		a.	Who originated the idea?		iv	doubt [verb]			ix	realise
		b.	No one knows [. . .].		v forget				x	sense [verb]
	v	a.	They moved to Boston.	4.	Here is another selection of complement­
		b.	I met them several times before [. . .].		taking lexemes; the instructions are the same
vi		a.	What a bargain it was.		as for the previous exercise, except that for
		b.	She told me [. . .].		the two adjectives the issue is whether they
vii a.			You will get your money back.		license the various kinds of content clause as
		b.	I'm determined [. . .].		subject (or as extraposed subject).

1 82	Chapter 1 0 Subordination and content clauses
i	amazing	vi	important	6. Which of the following prepositions
ii	belief	vii	know	license a declarative content clause as
iii	decision	viii	question [noun]	complement? For each 'yes' answer give
iv feel		ix	require	an example, and say whether or not the
v grasp [verb]		x	wonder	subordinator that is permitted in the

5. For each of the underlined content clauses		content clause.
below say whether it is (a) an open interrog­		i	above		vi	in
ative; or (b) an exclamative; or (c) ambigu­		ii	as	vii		on
ous between open interrogative and excla­		iii	because	viii		though
mative. If your answer is (a) or (b), explain		iv	despite		ix	unless
what grammatical factors make the clause		v for			x	with
unambiguous. If your answer is (c), com­		7. Here is another selection of prepositions
ment on the difference in meaning.		that may or may not license a declarative
i	She didn 't know how valuable it was.	content clause complement; the instructions
ii	I'dforgotten what a difficult route it was.	are the same as for the previous exercise.
iii	He asked how old I was.	i	after	vi	notwithstanding
iv	That depends on how much we have to	ii	at	vii	since
	.	iii	by	viii	through
v	You won't believe who they'reJllannin	iv	during	ix	until
	to appoint.	v	given	x	without