Popa Dumitrița, English-German, 2nd year

Assignment SU1.
Read Study Unit 1, That-Complement Clauses (section 1.2) and answer the questions:
1. Noun phrases have certain syntactic properties, i.e. they can be used in certain types of sentences:
a) NPs can appear in active voice sentences, as well as in their passive counterparts
b) NPs can be emphasized by topicalization (movement of an object to pre-subject position)
c) NPs can be emphasized in pseudo-cleft constructions (pseudo-cleft constructions have the
structure: relative clause + be + emphasized constituent)
d) a complex NP can be shifted over another (simpler) phrase, to avoid ambiguity.

Focus attention on the noun phrase [NP a phone call] and match the types of sentences (a-d)
with the illustrative examples below:

1) A) Tom expects a phone call.

2) A) A phone call is expected by Tom.
3) C) What Tom expects is a phone call.
4) D ) Tom expects a phone call from his old friend living in London
eagerly.
5) B) A phone call, Tom expects, not an e-mail.

2. Can you prove that That-complement clauses have properties similar to those mentioned above
for NPs? Can you illustrate these properties by rephrasing the example:

1) They expect [that he will pay his debts].

2) [That he will pay his debts] is expected. - Passivisation
3) [That he will pay his debts], expect they. - Topicalisation
4) What they expect is [that he will pay his debts]. – Pseudo-cleft
constructions
5) They expect patiently [that he will pay his debts] – Clause shift
6) It is obvious for them [that he will pay his debts] –
Extraposition from subject position
7) They expect it patiently [that he will pay his debts] -
Extraposition from DO position
8) They insisted on it [that he will pay his debts] - Extraposition
from PO position.

3. How do you define ‘extraposition’? How many types of extraposition are there?

Extraposition is a syntactic process that moves a complement clause to the right periphery
of the complex sentence and obligatorily substitutes it for the displaced complement clause.
In general, there are 3 types of extraposition: the complement clause may be extraposed
from subject position, direct object or prepositional object position. In the examples above
we have all 3 types of extraposition.
Read Study Unit 1, That-Complement Clauses (section 1.3) and answer the following questions:
4. NPs can have the syntactic functions of: subject, DO, IO, PO, Predicative, Attribute.
State what syntactic function the noun phrase [NP the student] has in the following examples:

1) The student arrived later. SUBJECT

2) The student’s dictionary is on a shelf in the lecture room. ATTRIBUTE
3) He is a brilliant student. PREDICATIVE
4) The teacher noticed a student who wasn’t paying attention in class. DO
5) He gave a dictionary to the student. IO
6) They rely on a student for that part time job. PO

5. What about That-complement clauses? What syntactic can they fulfill? Give examples.

The syntactic functions of that-complement clauses:

1) as DO
- wirh transitive verbs: I suppose that they were not expecting so many guests.
- with ditransitive verbs: I confesed to her that I was in love with her.
- with prepositional transitive verbs: She requested it of him that he should find a job.
2) as PO
My mother complained of unfair judgement.
My mother complained that she was judged unfairly.
3) as Subjects
It was odd that she was still working there.
4) as predicates
My idea is that we should start a business.
5) as attributes
I found facts that my aunt was killed by a stranger.

6. What kind of verbs in the main clause require the presence of a TCC with the function of Direct
object?
The following transitive verbs require the presence of a TCC with the function of Direct object:
admit, arrange, assume, believe, consider, forget, imagine, maintain, mean, mind, know, object,
prove, pretend, realise, reckon, recollect, remember, say, suppose, suspect, think, understand.
 7. What kind of verbs or adjectives should there be in the main clause for a TCC to function as a
PO?

The TCC functions as a PO for the following types of verbs or adjectives with obligatory
preposition:
a. Prepositional intransitive verbs like: admit (of), ask (for), answer (for), brag (of, about),
rejoice (at, over), marvel (at), see (to), theorize (on/about), vote (for), worry (about),
wonder (at, about), etc.:
You worry [PP about your family’s problems].
PO
You worry [that your family has problems].
clausal PO
b. Prepositional transitive verbs: advise sb. of, accuse sb. of, assure sb. of, congratulate sb.
on, forewarn sb. of, instruct sb. in, inform sb. of, notify sb. of, persuade sb. of, convince sb.
of, warn sb. of.:
She convinced her husband [PP of her loyalty].
DO PO
She convinced her husband [that she was loyal].
DO PO
c. Intransitive verbs with two obligatory prepositional Objects: argue with sb. about sth.,
agree with sb. on/about sth., pray to sb. for sth., etc.
I agree with them [PP about their solution].
PO PO
I agree with them [that this solution is perfect].
PO PO
d. Prepositional adjectives: afraid (of), ashamed (of), amazed (at), annoyed (at), aware (of),
angry (about), certain (of) concerned (about), confident (in), conscious (of), delighted (at),
glad (about), happy (about), irritated (at), hopeful (of), indicative (of), sorry (for), sure (of),
surprised (at), thankful (for), etc.
She is sorry [PP for her behavior].
PO
She is sorry [ that she had behaved like that].
PO
 8. With what kind of verbs, adjectives or nouns in the main clause can we analyze a TCC as having
the function of subject?

That-complement clauses function as Subjects when the main clause contains the following:
a. Certain intransitive verbs like: seem, appear, happen, turn out, matter, come about, etc.
It appeared [(that) they will come to our birthday].
b. Predicative adjectives like: likely, unlikely, certain, uncertain, true, sure, possible,
probable, well-known, etc. also take clausal subjects and allow extraposition:
[That you will marry him] is unlikely.
It is likely [that you will gain a lot of money].
c. Nouns with the semantic feature [+abstract], such as: problem, thing, fact, idea, surprise,
miracle, party, (no) wonder, mystery, etc., can also be used in this pattern, as nominal
predicatives:
[That she has married such a good man] is a wonder.
It’s a problem [that she has lost all her money].
d. Subject that-clauses also occur with bisentential verbs, i.e. verbs that have both the
Subject and the Direct Object expressed by a that-complement clause: prove, show, imply.
[That they found a solution] proves [that they can work together].
Subject Direct Object

9. When can the conjunction (or in modern terms ‘the complementizer’) that be omitted?

The complementizer that can be omitted in informal English and in certain quote clauses.
In these cases it makes no difference to the meaning of the sentence whether that is present
or not after informal verbs (say, think, mean, notice, etc.), informal adjectives (obvious) or
nouns (message):
It is obvious he will marry her.
It is obvious that he will marry her.

10. In what contexts is the presence of the conjunction that obligatory?

The conjunction that is obligatory with verbs that occur in formal contexts (anticipate,
affirm, allege, announce, assert, certify, conclude, conjecture, declare, establish, intend,
estimate, judge, mention, predict, proclaim, pronounce, protest, profess, require, rule, settle,
speculate, state, specify, etc.):
The government mentioned that they will vote the new projects tomorrow.