Relative Clauses, Appositive Noun Phrases, and Complement Clauses in English
Relative Clauses with Adverbial Gaps
When relative clauses have adverbial gaps, there are four choices for using relativizers in spoken and written language. They replace an entire adverbial phrase.
Relative Adverbs
Where, when, and why are relative adverbs that specifically mark adverbial gaps.
- Where: Used for place adverbials. Example: The playground where the school is.
- When: Used for time adverbials. Example: The day when she got married.
- Why: Used for reason adverbials. Example: The reason why I am angry…
In conversation, when and where are sometimes used to mark an abstract location rather than physical locations or times. For example, using the head noun bit referring to a part of a film or story: “I loved the bit when…” A similar thing happens with when and where in academic prose: “The kind of place where this is normal to happen.”
Preposition + Relative Pronoun “Which”
The preposition marks the adverbial element in the relative clause. Example: The place from which I took it.
Stranded (Fixed) Preposition
Leave the preposition stranded in the relative clause, marking the place of the gap. The relativizer can be which, that, or zero. Example: The beach that I like going to.
Omitted Preposition
Omit the whole preposition, giving no surface marker of the adverbial gap. The relativizer might also be omitted. The head noun and the main verb of the relative clause indicate the preposition we must use and the main verb of the relative clause.
Manner Adverbial Gaps and “Way”
No relative adverb exists for relative clauses with manner adverbial gaps. As a substitute, these structures nearly always use the same head noun: way. Example: “This is not the way that I’ve told you to do it.” These relative clauses usually occur with both the relativizer and the preposition omitted, since the head noun is strongly associated with a manner adverbial gap. Example: “This is not the way you do that” or “…the way I told you to do it.”
Postmodification by Appositive Noun Phrases
Appositive noun phrases have equivalent status with the preceding (head) noun phrase. The order of noun phrase + appositive noun phrase can normally be reversed, and it will form a grammatical construction with basically the same meaning. These kinds of phrases are normally non-restrictive in meaning, and although they are not needed to identify the reference of the head noun, they give information about it.
Exceptions to this rule are the nouns that refer to expressions, words, or phrases, as for instance in: “The word hedgehog is difficult to spell.”
In contrast to relative clauses, appositive noun phrases include no verbs at all. They are common in academic prose, providing information about a technical term, and in news, where they normally entail a proper noun with human reference. The proper noun and the descriptive phrase can be placed in any order. Example: Proper noun + descriptive phrase: “Mr. Zapatero, President of Spain” or descriptive phrase + proper noun: “The President of Spain, Mr. Zapatero.”
Use in academic prose:
- To provide an explanatory interpretation for a technical reference: “Don Quijote, written by…”
- To introduce acronyms: “ETOA (estimated time of arrival)”
- To introduce short labels for variables, parts of diagrams, etc. Example: “A point P”
- To name chemical or mathematical formulas: “Mercury (Hg)”
- To list items included in some class: “Non-metal elements (hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, …)”
Verb and Adjective Complement Clauses
Complement clauses, or nominal clauses, are dependent clauses that complete the meaning of an adjective, a verb, or a noun. They often hold a noun phrase gap in a clause, such as a subject, object, or predicative. Example: “She promised that she would come.” A predicative adjective controls the complement clause when the meaning of an adjective is complemented. Example: “She is happy that I’m here.” The predicate is the element that controls a complement clause, and it can refer to either a lexical verb or a predicative adjective.
Types of Complement Clauses
- That-clauses: Finite (marked for tense or modality, and they have a subject). They can also occur without the complementizer that. Example: “I told him that I wasn’t pleased.”
- Wh-clauses: Begin with a wh-word (also how). Finite clauses, must have a subject. Example: “I told him how to do it.”
- To-infinitive clauses: Non-finite complement clauses (no tense or modal). They do not usually have a subject. They can occur in combination with wh-clauses. Example: “I know how to mend it.”
- Ing-clauses: Non-finite. Example: “He started eating before the others.”
- Bare-infinitive clauses: Non-finite, infinitive clause without to (used in perception verbs, make, let, …). Example: “Let me show you something.”
- Ed-complement clauses: Can only be verbs, and they are only controlled by a few main clause verbs such as have, need, see, get, and hear. The ed-clause is separated from the controlling verb by a noun phrase. Example: “I wanted my head shaved.”
Grammatical Positions of Complement Clauses
There are three major grammatical positions for complement clauses:
Subject Position or Pre-Predicate Position
Complement clauses can occur before the verb (subject position). The subject position is possible for complement clauses controlled by a verb or an adjective. Example: “Sailing back home is great fun” (Verb complement clause in subject position). Example: “This subject is difficult” (Adjective complement clause in subject position). Complement clauses are rare in this position, and extraposed clauses are normally used to express an equivalent meaning.
Post-Predicate Position
The complement clause after the verb or adjective that controls them can function as a direct object, subject predicative (following a copular verb), or an adjective complement (following a predicative adjective). Example: “I’m trying to mend my car” (Direct Object). “Yogurts are healthy for you.” “I’m very pleased to go on holidays” (Adjective complement clause (post-predicate position)).
Extraposed Position
The dummy it fills the subject gap, and the complement clause comes after the predicate. Dummy it just fills the grammatical place of the subject as it doesn’t refer to anything. Nevertheless, the post-predicate complement clause has the role of the logical subject. Example: “It is not known yet why the Antarctic is melting” or “Why the Antarctic is melting is not clear yet.”
That-clauses and to-clauses are the most common types of complement clauses in extraposed position, and they occur as complements of both adjectives and verbs.
- Extraposed that-clause as verb complement. Example: “It seems that Jane is not coming” or “That Jane…”
- Extraposed that-clause as adjective complement. Example: “It is good that you have finally recovered.”
- Extraposed to-clause as verb complement. Example: “It is exciting to drive the new lorry.”
- Extraposed to-clause as adjective complement. Example: “It is uncomfortable to eat with the wrong hand.”
Post-Predicate That-Clauses
Grammatical Patterns
- Verb + that-clause. Example: Think, sing…
- Verb + NP + that-clause. Example: “She told me that…”
- Verb + to NP + that-clause. Example: “I suggested to… that…” (Any verb that occurs in this pattern can also do it in pattern 1)
Some verbs such as promise can occur in both patterns 1 and 2. Others, like write, wire, and cable, can occur with the three patterns.
Although that-clauses do not occur following prepositions, some of the verbs that take that-clauses correspond to prepositional verbs taking noun phrases. Example: “I inform you about the problem we’ve got.”
Verbs Controlling Post-Predicate That-Clauses
The most common verbs are say, show, and suggest.
Mental Verbs
Think (common in conversation), guess (American English conversation and fiction), see, assume, know, find, feel, and believe (cognitive state). These verbs report various mental states and attitudes, and with that-clauses, they are an important device to express an attitude. Example: Think, feel, and assume give a sense of possibility together with doubt. On the other hand, know, find, and see provide a greater sense of certainty. Example: “I think that it is going to rain this afternoon” or “I see it’s going…”
Speech Act and Other Communication Verbs
Another common use of that-clauses is to report what someone has said (say, tell, argue, …). Example: “Toni told me that…” A different way to express the same content is by direct speech. This kind of clause gives the content of the speech and is related to a reporting clause that contains a speech act verb. Example: “‘This is a job that nobody wants to do,’ chimney sweeps say” or “The chimney sweeps say that…”
The verb say is very common in news and conversation. Verbs such as show, indicate, ensure, and prove are often used with a non-personal subject. Thus, the idea expressed is not overly attributed to anybody. They are frequent in academic prose. Each verb has a certain degree of doubt or certainty. Example: “I can prove that I’m saying the truth” or “The studies indicate that…”
For the purpose of a possible course of action, some communication verbs are used with that-clauses. Example: Insist, ask, order, and advise: “The engineers advised that the building…”