Nouns Selecting a Clausal Complement

Nouns can also select a CP complement, for example, eagerness:

(76) a. (John’s) eagerness [for Harry to win the election]

b. (John’s) eagerness [to win the election]

These examples imply that

eagerness will have the
following lexical information:

This lexical entry will allow a

structure like the following:

One pattern that we can observe is that when a verb selects a CP complement, if there is a
corresponding noun, it also selects a CP:

(79) a. Bill alleged that Fred signed the check.

b. We believe that the directors were present.

c. We convinced him that the operation is safe.

(80) a. the allegation that Fred signed the check

b. the belief that the directors were present

c. his conviction that the operation is safe

This shows us that the derivational process which derives a noun from a verb preserves the COMPS
value of that verb.

(81) a. *his attention that the earth is round

b. *his article that the earth is flat

c. *the ignorance that James can play the flute

d. *the expertise that she knows how to bake croissants

These nouns cannot combine with a CP complement, indicating that they do not have CP in the value of
COMPS.

Prepositions Selecting a Clausal Complement

In general, prepositions in English cannot select a CP complement.

(82) a. *Alan is thinking about [that his students are eager to learn English].

b. *Fred is counting on [for Tom to make an announcement].

However, wh-CPs, sometimes known as indirect questions, may serve as prepositional complements.

(83) a. The outcome depends on [how many candidates participate in the election].

b. Fred is thinking about [whether he should stay in Seoul].

These facts show us that indirect questions have some feature which distinguishes them from canonical
that- or for-CPs, and makes them somehow closer to true nouns (for NP is the typical complement for a
preposition).