Chapter 1 - Grammatical Foundations: WordsAlthough the complement of complementisers (the part of the expression that
follows it) seems to be clausal rather than nominal, the nominal element that follows
the complementiser for is always accusative and indeed seems to depend on the
complementiser to its presence in that if the complementiser is absent, then so must the
nominal be:
(181) a [for him to stay] would be unwise
b [for he to stay] would be unwise
c [to stay] would be unwise
d [him to stay] would be unwise
We will be examining these observations in more detail later on in the book, but for
now we can take the observations as support for the categorisation of complementisers
as types of preposition. Indeed, we may even take this as evidence that
complementisers should be [–N] elements as it is this feature that is responsible for the
accusative nature of the following nominal, as discussed above.
Another argument in favour of categorising complementisers as functional
prepositions is that both prepositional elements and clauses introduced by a
complementiser undergo a syntactic process known as post-posing, where they appear
to be moved to the end of the main clause:
(182) a lies [about Larry] were circulated Æ
lies were circulated [about Larry]
b a book [that no one had read] was awarded first prise Æ
a book was awarded first prise [that no one had read]
We saw above how inflectional elements determine the finiteness of the clause,
with modal auxiliaries and tense appearing in finite clauses and the non-finite to
appearing in non-finite clauses. Complementisers are also sensitive to finiteness. That
and if always introduce finite clauses, while for always introduces non-finite clauses:
(183) a that he may speak that him to speak
b if she is staying if she to stay
c for you to know *for you must know
A second property of complementisers concerns what might be termed the force of
the clause that they introduce. This concerns the interpretation of the clause as either a
statement or a question:
(184) a I said [that I have the money]
b I asked [if you are free at the weekend]
The complementisers that and for introduce declarative clauses, i.e. ones that make
statements, while if introduces interrogative clauses, ones that ask questions. We can
view this in terms of a set of non-categorial features which distinguish between the
complementisers. These features are [±Wh] for the force of the clause and [±Fin] for
the finiteness of the clause. The [+Wh] feature (pronounced ‘double-u aitch’) indicates
interrogative, based on the fact that interrogative pronouns such as who, what, where,
etc. are written with an initial ‘wh’ and the [–Wh] feature indicates declarative. [+Fin]