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Complement clauses Summary

المؤلف:  R.M.W. Dixon

المصدر:  A Semantic approach to English grammar

الجزء والصفحة:  258-8

2023-04-01

1745

Summary

The main points from our discussion of the meanings of kinds of complement clauses are:

. THAT complements refer to some assertable activity or state as a single unit, without any reference to its inherent constitution or time duration.

 

. WH- complements relate to some aspect of an assertable activity or state (again, treated as a single unit), about which clarification is needed.

 

. ING complements refer to some activity or state as extended in time, perhaps noting the way in which it unfolds.

 

. Modal (FOR) TO complements relate to (the potentiality of) the subject of the complement clause becoming involved in the state or activity referred to by that clause.

 

. Judgement TO complements refer to a judgement or opinion which the main clause subject makes, through the complement clause, generally relating to a state or property of the subject of that clause.

 

. WH- TO complements effectively combine the meanings of WH- and Modal (FOR) TO, referring to some activity in which the subject will get involved, and about some aspect of which clarification is required. (All verbs that take WH- to also take WH- complements.)

 

. (FROM) ING complements relate to the subject of the main clause doing something so that the subject of the complement clause does not become involved in the activity or state referred to by that clause.

 

THAT or WH- complements must show tense inflection and may include a Modal. The other five varieties of complement clause do not take a Modal or tense inflection, although past time can be coded through the have auxiliary. With certain verbs, the time reference of an ING complement is not stated, but can often be inferred from the meaning of the verb (e.g. future with propose, past with regret). Many verbs which take a Modal (FOR) TO complement also accept a THAT clause, and then the meaning of the Modal (FOR) TO construction is generally similar—though not identical—to a THAT construction where the complement clause includes a Modal. All verbs that take Judgement TO also accept a THAT complement, and the meaning of the Judgement TO construction is similar to the meaning of a THAT construction which does not include a Modal.

 

THAT and WH- complements must contain an overt subject. For Judgement TO and (FROM) ING the underlying complement clause subject must be included, but is coded as surface object of the main verb. A WH- TO complement must have its subject coreferential with main clause subject or object, and then omitted. ING and Modal (FOR) TO complements may omit their subject NP when it is coreferential with an NP in appropriate function in the main clause (for then also drops). With some main verbs this omission is obligatory, with some it is optional, and with others it is not allowed.

 

A Modal (FOR) TO complement may, when it directly follows a transitive main verb, drop the for; complement clause subject then becomes surface direct object of the main verb. For is omitted when the subject of the complement clause is directly affected by the activity referred to by the main verb. To from a Modal (FOR) TO and from from a (FROM) ING complement may be omitted after some verbs (and to must be after others) when there is a direct link between the activity referred to by the main verb and that referred to by the complement clause verb.