Lecture 2

THAT-complements
 Properties
 Distribution of THAT-complements

 Syntactic Properties: extraposition,

topicalization, heavy NP-shift

 Sequence of Tenses
THAT-complements
Properties:
1. They are finite declarative subordinates
2. They are introduced by the complementizer THAT - which selects
indicative or subjunctive IPs
e.g. I believe [that he is not here.]
Mary said [that she had a headache.]
I am happy [that he left.]
I advised him [that he should come at once.]
They recommended to him [that he should read the instructions
carefully.]
3. They are selected by verbs, adjectives and nouns (they are
arguments of verbs, adjectives and nouns)
vb. I know [that you are tired.]
adj. I am aware [that you are tired.]
noun The fact [that you are tired] annoys me.
THAT-complements
 Syntactic properties of THAT-complements
 Similarities and differences between DPs and
CPs
 Extraposition & It-insertion
 Heavy NP Shift
 THAT-deletion
 Topicalization
 Sequence of tenses
 Distribution of THAT complements
Distribution of THAT complements
It takes into account:
- the syntactic function of the complement clause
- the verb-subcategory of the main predicate

1. THAT clauses as DOs

a) simple transitive verbs
- vbs that allow that-deletion
- vbs that do not allow that-deletion
b) double object verbs
2. THAT clauses as POs
3. THAT clauses as Subjects
4. THAT clauses as Adverbs (Adverbial THAT-complements)
5. THAT Clauses as Predicative
6. THAT Clauses as Attributives
1. THAT Clauses as Direct Objects
a) Simple transitive verbs [CP] [that]Co
Verbs which allow that-deletion:
admit doubt forget pretend suppose
answer estimate guess presume understand
assume feel maintain realize
believe figure out object remember

Verbs that do not allow that-deletion:

anticipate forecast predict recommend
certify have it prescribe reflect (think)
desire hold (claim) proclaim recognize
disclose imply profess reply
discover judge pronounce scream out
exclaim mention reason tolerate
establish moan report watch
explain mumble recall wish
settle
1. THAT clauses as Direct Objects
 I hold that he is a fool.
 She protested that she wasn’t tired.
 His pronunciation proclaimed that he was an American.
 I reasoned that she must be angry with me.
 Watch that the milk doesn’t boil over.
 They verified that he was the owner of the house.
 The police know that Oliver is a spy.
 Variations:
 The police know Oliver is a spy. – that-deletion
 The police know it for sure that O. is a spy. – extraposition
 The police know for sure that O. is a spy. – Heavy NP Shift
 That O. is a spy the police know t for sure. – Topicalization
 That O. is a spy is known by the police. – passive
 It was known by the police at the time that O. is a spy. – extraposition,
passive
 Idioms:
 I don’t buy it that you are the author.
 He let it out of the bag that he had done it.
 He spilled it that you are the thief.
 He finally got it that I meant no harm.
1. THAT clauses as Direct Objects
b) double object verbs (verbs of communication)
read swear radio (that) describe
tell allow vow explain
write remark shout recommend
suggest telephone grant

Examples:
They telephoned us [that father had died.]
He cabled her that she should join him at once.
She promised him that she will never lie to him again.
The thief e-mailed her friend that the police was coming.
They acknowledged to us that they were defeated. – Heavy NP Shift
Her face betrayed to an observer that she was ill.
The priest preached to large crowds that God would destroy the evil
world.
He confided to me that something special had happened.
I explained it to John that the car was out of order. – extraposition
I owe it to my father’s influence that he married me. – extraposition
2. THAT clauses as Prepositional Objects
a) [PP] alternating with [CP]
admit of rejoice at theorize about
ask for marvel at worry about
answer for see to wonder at
brag about testify to swear to
[PP] Can you swear to it?
[CP] Can you swear that the accused was at your place on Friday?

b) [DP] ∩[PP]; [DP] ∩[CP]

advise sby of congratulate sby on persuade sby of
accuse sby of inform sby of warn sby about/of
assure sby of notify sby of appraise sby of
[PP] He informed me of their willingness to help.
[CP] He informed me that they were willing to help.
2. THAT clauses as Prepositional Objects
c) [PP ∩ PP] / [PP ∩ CP]
argue with sby about
agree with sby about
pray to sby for / against
[PP] We agreed with the Browns about the party.
[CP] We agreed with the Browns [that we should throw a party.]

d) [PP] / [CP] – adjectives are subcategorized, not verbs:

afraid of aware of surprised at confident in
amazed at concerned about delighted at glad about
indicative of sorry for sure of certain of
happy about thankful for irritated of

[PP] We are fully aware of the gravity of the situation.

[CP] We are fully aware that the situation is so grave.
[CP] Are you aware that you are sitting on my hat?
I wasn’t fully aware of it that things were so bad. – extraposition
You should be thankful that you are alive.
3. THAT Clauses as Subjects
a) A(ppear) verbs* (ergative, intransitive verbs):
seem, appear, happen, turn out, matter,
come about, prove, follow
e.g. It appears that life can be interesting and amusing.
It seemed to him that she was lying to him.

Only extraposed structures are grammatical:

It appears to me that this is a new beginning.
* That this is a new beginning appears to me.
3. THAT Clauses as Subjects
b) Surprise-verbs (psychological transitive verbs)
alarm baffle concern distress insult
amaze bother confuse enrage madden
anger bore discourage frighten pain
annoy charm disgust floor please
astonish cheer displease humble relieve
astound calm dismay hurt satisfy
attract comfort gratify horrify surprise
soothe tempt torment trouble

e.g. It depressed him that everybody blames him.

That I was thought unworthy displeases me.
3. THAT Clauses as Subjects
c) Adjectives (emotive, evaluative adjectives
expressing a belief of the speaker)
evident clever normal
appropriate considerate alarming
odd good bothersome
awkward bad worrisome
fantastic essential burdensome
funny incredible insulting
fair lucky splendid
fine natural queer
3. THAT Clauses as Subjects
Sometimes: an IO introduced by : for, to, of
e.g. It is important that he came.
It is important for me that he came.
beneficiary
It is important to me that he came.
who passes judgement, decide
It is clever / nice of him that he waited.
It is considerate of you that you helped her.
[That he knew nothing about Poland] was obvious to all
his friends.
It was obvious to all his friends [that he knew nothing
about Poland.]
4. THAT Clauses as Adverbials
(Adverbial THAT-complements)
 PP – the adverbial clause is introduced by a
prepositional group which includes a
complement clause (the compl. cl. is usually
a compl. of a noun included in the PP)

 P [-CP] – in earlier stages of the language it

was possible that prep.s were followed by a
CP (P + CP); today’s English: P+ IP
4. THAT Clauses as Adverbials
 The PP model:
- the PP are used to introduce that-adverbial clauses:
for fear that in/with the intent that
on the ground that on purpose that
in order that in event that
to the end that on condition that
in the hope that with a view that

e.g. They dislike her on the ground that she is too proud.
They paid her a large salary in the hope that she would stay with
them.

The nouns in these constructions tend to become grammaticalized (they

lose their meaning) – they may lose their ability to take determiners and
adjectives
e.g. on condition that / * on the condition that
- the noun is losing its autonomous meaning; becoming more and
more part of the conjunctive phrase
4. THAT Clauses as Adverbials
 P + IP (Adverbial subordination) - by means of that conjunction
phrases where there is no prepositional phrase available:

- in current English – possibility for: in that, except that, save that

e.g. He resembles his brother in that he is as tall as him.
I would like to come except that I don’t have time.

- Result Clauses (Rom. prop. consecutive): so + adverb/adjective … that

(a degree word is crucial for the grammaticality of the sentences: so,

enough, such)

e.g. He is so competent a teacher that every student loves him.

* He is a competent teacher that every student loves him.
He is such a nice man that women instantly fall for him.
He is so old that he doesn’t hear a thing.
He runs so fast that no one can catch him.
He is such a fast runner that no one can catch him.
5. THAT Clauses as Predicatives

 They appear in equative copulative

sentences (X is Y or Y is X) when the subject
is an abstract nominal (e.g. fact, idea,
statement, claim, reason, etc.)

e.g. The fact is [that he cannot join us tomorrow.]

The first reason for my departure was [that I didn’t
love Bill any more.]
6. THAT Clauses as Attributes
 After abstract nouns (idea, fact, etc.)
 After deverbal nouns (nouns derived from
verbs) (claim, wish, proposal, etc.)
e.g. The fact [that he is in debt] bothers his wife
immensely.
My wish [that he should return the money]
came true.
!!! – these are that-complements, not wh-complements
(that-relative clauses belong to wh-complements)
- that-complements – are required only by abstract nouns
or derived from verbs
6. THAT Clauses as Attributes
Compare:

1. the book [that I gave him]

‘that’ is replaceable by ‘which’ –
THAT-relative clause

2. the wish [that he should return the money]

‘that’ seen as the former complement of ‘wish’
(She wished that he should return the money.)
‘that’ cannot be replaced by ‘which’
* the wish which we should return the money
THAT-complement clause (Attribute Cl.)
 Syntactic properties that
characterize
THAT-complements

1. Extraposition
2. Topicalization
3. Heavy NP Shift
Motivation for extraposition,
topicalization and heavy NP shift
(discourse and structural motivation)
 The order of the CP in the complex sentence usually
reflects its discourse functions: topic & focus
 Topic: what the sentence is about
 Focus: the element which is relevant informationally
 The grammar of any language is ruled by certain
discourse principles:
- the principle of END FOCUS
- the principle of END WEIGHT
Motivation
 The principle of END-FOCUS:
- in any sentence the Focus constituent tends to be placed at the end of the sentence
e.g. [He came] [last night.]
given info new info
[Yesterday] [John was fired.]
What happened to John? (= this is the topic)

The focus of a construction may be expressed

- A) intonationally: the focus constituent has to be stressed (sometimes:
contrastive stress)
- e.g. John likes Mary.
John likes Mary (= not Susan)
John hates Mary (= he does not like her)
John hates Mary (=it is not Bill who hates her)

B) syntactically: structural means of expressing focus include rules that

have the effect of placing a constituent in focus (to an end-position) –
extraposition
e.g. It is John [who did it.]
Motivation
 The principle of END-WEIGHT
Constituents which are complex (‘heavy’) come to the
end of the sentence
- a constituent is ‘heavy’ if it includes a clause or a
prepositional phrase:
e.g. He threw the letter into the basket.
He threw into the basket [the letter which he had just received.]
* He threw into the basket the letter.
I know for sure [that everybody is tired.] – Heavy NP Shift
1. Extraposition (& it-insertion)
IP
Reasons:
 English is an SVO language DP I’
(rigid word order)
Io VP
– DP always has case
(DP must occupy this case
position) – the S is always V’

preverbal (Spec I) Vo CP
- CPs do not need case
 When the DP position is
empty, we need to insert a
functional S - extraposition
1. Extraposition (& it-insertion)
 A very frequent structure in English (that-clauses,
infinitival clauses)
 The term ‘extraposition’ refers to a construction
where the expletive (empty) pronoun it appears in
front position, followed by the complement clause in
peripheral position (i.e. the clause is extraposed,
placed in a marginal position)

 The phenomenon is true of several syntactic

functions (! Subject position is the most frequent)
1. Extraposition (& it-insertion)
 Subject Clause:
[That Dorothy flew from Kansas] was a surprise to everybody. -
unextraposed
It was a surprise to everybody [that D. flew from Kansas.] -
extraposed
 DO Clause:
The plumber wrongly figured out [that the pipe needed replacing.] –
unextraposed
The plumber wrongly figured it out [that the pipe needed replacing.]
- extraposed
 Prepositional Object Clause:
Can you swear [that the accused spent the evening with you?] –
unextraposed
Can you swear to it [that the accused spent the evening with you?] -
extraposed
2. Topicalization
 the reverse of extraposition
 Placement of a clause in topic position (a subject clause is
placed in an initial position in the sentence – it is topicalized)
 It appears mostly when a writer/speaker wishes to create a
special effect of emphasis – then it is a marked case in the
language
 Compare:
 [That my horse is the best in the world] is absolutely evident.-

topicalization
 It is absolutely evident [that my horse is the best in the world.] –

extraposition
 [That Dorothy flew from Kansas] was a surprise to everybody. –

topicalization
 It was a surprise to everybody [that D. flew from Kansas.] -

extraposed
3. Heavy NP Shift
 A NP is said to be heavy when it has a large stretch of modifiers
accompanying it
e.g. the NPs ‘the letter’ or ‘the long letter’ are much lighter than the
NP ‘the letter which he had just read’
 The rule of Heavy NP shift stipulates: the heavy NP should be
moved to the right end of the sentence:
e.g. He threw the letter [he had just read] into the basket.
He threw into the basket the letter [which he had just read.]

Semantic reasons: the move takes place so that the sentence could
be more clearly understood;

- It challenges the fixed word order rules in English (a verb should

not normally be separated from its obligatory complement)
3. Heavy NP Shift

Further examples:
• *They wrote [that the firm was going bankrupt] to
the lawyers.
• They wrote tCP to the lawyers [that the firm was going
bankrupt.] CP
• I know tCP for sure [that everybody is tired.] CP
• I suggest tCP to him [that he should buy a car.] CP
• I believe tCP strongly [that they will come.] CP
Trace (tCP) suggests that the clausal structure has
been moved in a more semantically advantageous
position.
3. Heavy NP Shift
Properties of Heavy NP Shift:
1. It applies only to Object Clauses, never to Subject Clauses
2. It is motivated by the same discourse principle of END FOCUS &
END WEIGHT
3. It moves a clause over a PP or an AdvP
e.g. *They wrote [that the firm was going bankrupt] to the
lawyers.
They wrote tCP to the lawyers [that the
firm was going bankrupt.] CP
* Mary said [that she wanted to drive] quietly.
Mary said quietly [that she wanted to drive.]
4. It is structurally adjoined to the VP (the same position as the
extraposed clause)
Sequence of Tenses (SOT) in THAT-
clauses
 That-complements observe the SOT and
function of the main verb – they take the
indicative and the subjunctive mood
 The tenses in Complement clauses are
oriented towards the tenses of the main
clause
 they show the temporal relation (anteriority,
simultaneity, posteriority) holding between the
actions of the main cl. & sub. cl.
Sequence of Tenses

Changes in the embedded clause:

 Present Past
 Past

 Present Perfect Past Perfect

 Past Perfect

 Future Future-in-the-Past
 Future Perfect Future Perfect in the Past
Sequence of Tenses

 ‘She is there’, he said.

 He told me that she was there.
 ‘She was there’, he said.
 He told me that he had been there.
 ‘I will leave her’, he said.
 He said he would leave her.
 ‘He will have arrived by the time she leaves.’
 He said he would have arrived by the time she
left.
Sequence of Tenses
 Particular cases
1. The Present-Past rule can be optional with
‘factive verbs’ (vbs that presuppose the truth
of their complement)
2. The Past-Past Perfect rule is sometimes
disregarded in complement with non-
durative S. Past tense (which is not
simultaneous with the vb. in the main cl.)
3. Future – Future-in-the-Past - rarely
Sequence of Tenses
1. Present Past rule is not always observed with ‘factive verbs’:
realize, forget, mention, regret, discover, show, notice, be
amazed/ concerned, say, report, etc.
I realize [that he is a genius.]
I don’t realize [that he is a genius.]
- the truth value of the compl. cl. remains the same
e.g. Bill noticed that coconuts grew high upon trees.
Bill noticed that coconuts grow high upon trees.

- Verbs which require obligatory observation of the SOT rule:

know, be aware, think, believe, dream, wish, hope, insist, whisper,
etc.
e.g. It seemed that the leader of the group was / *is an undercover
agent.
Sequence of Tenses

- Past remains when the action expressed by it is

relevant in the past, but the speaker does not wish
to identify with it:
She still believed that the earth was flat.
She believed that the earth is round.
- the past is used to show that the speaker does not agree with
what ‘she’ considers to be a general truth
She realized that all men are fools.
He knew that she thought all men were fools.
- ‘he’ disagrees with ‘her’ opinion – Past is used
Sequence of Tenses
2. Past Past Perfect rule is optional with
non-durative Simple Past tense that cannot
be seen as simultaneous with the verb in the
main clause
She suspected that Bill had left before the police arrived.
She suspected that Bill left before the police arrived.
- similar meaning
But:
She suspected that Bill had been there.
She suspected that Bill was there.
- different meaning
Sequence of Tenses

3. Future Future-in-the-Past rule is rarely

optional.
Rare cases:
Peter said that John would leave at 5.
Peter said that John will leave at 5. (it is 3
o’clock – the future is used)