Extraposition in English and Swedish 255
Fact in the fact that... is a shell noun, i.e. a “conceptual shell for complex, prop-
osition-like pieces of information” (Schmid 2000: 4). Hasselgård (2012) points
out that this usage of the fact that in English may be on its way to becoming
“an extended conjunction that helps accommodate a that-clause in nominal
positions.” Labelling the proposition as a fact presupposes its status as shared
knowledge. The fact that... cannot, therefore, be used when the predicate is non-
factive, as in (15) above (cf. *The fact that he was a Theist is certain). Similarly,
-ing gerunds are used for processes that are “understood to have started, to have
actuality” in contrast to-infinitives which are used for potential hypothetical pro-
cesses (Johansson & Lysvåg 1986: 184). One of the chief reasons for the greater
frequency of nonextraposed subject clauses in Swedish is thus the absence of
direct equivalents of the fact that and -ing gerunds in English and the fact that
Swedish may use finite and infinitival att-clauses for both. However, there are also
more correspondences with lexical nominals in the English sample, as in (29)
above, which suggests that there may be a strong tendency for English to prefer
nominal subjects to clausal subjects in general. There are, furthermore, a larger
number of nonextraposed to-infinitival clauses in the English translations from
Swedish than in the English orginals (26 vs. 3), which suggests that translators
are influenced by the Swedish originals. In a few cases a nonextraposed infinitive
clause in Swedish has been translated into a nonextraposed to-infinitive clause in
English when an ing-gerund would have been more natural, as in (50) (cf. Being
big is not necessarily a strength):
(50) Den offentliga sektorn har blivit större och myndigheterna utövar inflytande
på allt fler områden. Konsumenterna har blivit mer medvetna och kräsna och
har fått råd att vara det. Tillväxt är inte längre självklar, inte enbart i enskilda
sektorer utan även i ekonomin som helhet. Att vara stor behöver inte vara en
styrka – liten tycks ibland klara sig bäst. (BB1)
The public sector has grown bigger, and governmental authorities have
increased their influence on more and more aspects of business.
Consumers have become more conscious and selective – and they can afford
to be so. Growth is no longer something to be taken for granted, not only in
individual sectors, but also in the economy as a whole. To be big is not neces-
sarily a strength – small seems to do better sometimes. (BB1T)
‘To be big need not be a strength ...’
In sum, the greater number of nonextrapositions in the Swedish sample appears
to be mainly due to a tendency to nominalise more often in English.