A Student's Introduction to English Grammar

§3.1 The subordinator that^175

The relative clause underlined in [i] has as its subject a relative pronoun who with

the preceding noun people as its antecedent.

The comparative clause underlined in [ii] has no overt subject at all.

Content clauses lack special properties of this kind. We can regard them as the

default kind of finite subordinate clause, from which relative and comparative

clauses differ in certain distinctive ways described in Ch. II and Ch. 12.

The content clause in [iii] is introduced by the subordinator that, but the rest of
the clause does not differ from that of the main clause These people had been
invited. And the subordinator is in fact optional here: I don 't think these people had
been invited is also grammatical.
Content clauses function predominantly as complement within the larger con­
struction: the one cited here, for example, is complement of the verb think.

2 Clause type in content clauses

The system of clause type described for main clauses in Ch. 9 applies
also to content clauses, except that imperatives are normally restricted to main
clauses. In [3] we illustrate main clause and content clauses of the other four types:

[3] MAIN CLAUSE CONTENT CLAUSE
DECLARATIVE Liz is in Pa ris. He says that Liz is in Pa ris.
ii CLOSED INTERROGATIVE Is she ill? I wonder whether she is ill.
m OPEN INTERROGATIVE What do l!0U want? Te ll me what l!0U want.
iv EXCLAMATIVE What a bargain it is! Te ll her what a bargain it is.

In the following three sections we survey declarative, interrogative and exclamative
content clauses respectively.

3 Declarative content clauses

3.1 The subordinator that

The major feature that can distinguish declarative content clauses from
their main clause counterparts is the subordinator that. It is sometimes obligatory,
sometimes optional, and sometimes inadmissible:

[4]
OBLIGATORY
II INADMISSIBLE
m OPTIONAL

WITH SUBORDINATOR that

That I need helv is clear.

*1 left befo re that he arrived.

I know that it's genuine.

WITHOUT SUBORDINATOR that

* I need help is clear.

I left befo re he arrived.

I know it's genuine.

The main place where that is obligatory is where the content clause is subject of

the matrix clause, as in [4i]. It is likewise obligatory if the content clause is pre­

posed so as to precede the subject, as in That I need help I can 't deny.