Nominal, adverbial and

comparative clauses

Nominal clauses
Occupy all those positions that NPs
occupy (S, O, C, apposition,
prepositional complement)
Types: that, wh-interrogative, yes/no,
relative, to-infinitival, -ing, bare infinitive,
verbless.

THAT nominal

S: That he was wrong was obvious.

O: I knew that he was wrong.
Cs: The assumption is that hes wrong.
Apposition: The assumption, that he is
wrong, is correct.

WH-interrogative

Leave a gap of unknown information

S: How the book will sell depends on us.
O: I dont know why he is in such a hurry.
Cs: The problem is how Ill get back.
Apposition: My question, why that is
important, has remained unanswered.
Adj. complement: I wasnt sure who he was.
Prep. complement: I wasnt consulted on
who should be invited.

YES/NO interrogative
Do you know if/whether hes at home?
I dont care if/whether itll be sunny or windy.
(alternative)
WHETHER can be directly followed by not (I
dont know whether or not you want to come as
well.)
Sentence with WHETHER cant be made
negative (*whether it doesnt rain)
IF cant introduce a S clause (*If it rains or not
doesnt concern me.)

Nominal RELATIVE
Can be paraphrased by an NP containing a postmodifying
relative clause. (what counts most is the thing that counts
most is )
Introduced by a wh-element.

S: What he wants is unacceptable.

Od: I want to see whatever they have.
Oi: I gave whoever it was all my books.
Cs: Home is where you are.
Co: You can call me whatever you like.
Appositive: Can you tell me your address, that is, where you
live?
Prepositional complement: Vote for whoever you like most.

TO-infinitive

S: To fail like that is weird.

Od: He likes everyone to be happy.
Cs: My wish is to fly a plane.
Appositive: His dream, to become a pilot, has
finally come true.
Adj. complement: I am happy to see you again.
S introduced with for + objective case
The idea is that we meet on Monday. The idea
is for us to meet on Monday.

-ING clauses

S: Keeping a secret is what a best friend does.

Od: No one likes being lied to.
Cs: His hobby is playing chess.
Apposition: His hobby, playing chess, is the only
thing he does.
Prep. complement: I am fed up with being treated
like that.
Adj. complement: I was busy finishing the report.
Im surprised at him / his / John / Johns making
that mistake.

Adverbial clauses
Types
-

Clauses of time
Clauses of place
Clauses of condition
Clauses of concession
Universal conditional-concessive clauses
Clauses of reason and cause
Clauses of circumstance
Clauses of purpose
Clauses of result
Clauses of manner
Clauses of proportion and preference

Clauses if time
Finite - introduced by: after, before, since,
until, when(ever), once, while,
Non-finite -ing - introduced by: after, before,
since, until, when(ever), once, while,
Non-finte -ed - introduced by: once, until,
when, while,
Verbless introduced by: as soon as, once,
when, while.

Clauses of place

Finite ( where they could find work)

Non-finite ( where known, )
Verbless (where possible)
Introduced by where and wherever

Clauses of condition
Dependence on one circumstance or more
If you treat me well, Ill be good to you.
Finite, non-finite, verbless (Unless treated
well / If ready)
Introduced by: if, unless, provided that,
providing that, on condition that, as long as,
so long as.
Real and unreal.

Clauses of concession
Imply a contrast between two circumstances the main clause is surprising in the light of the
dependent clause:
Although it was raining, we went for a picnic.
Introduced by: though, although, while,
whereas, even if.
Finite and non-finite except whereas
(always finite)

Universal conditionalconcessive clauses

Introduced by a wh-compound
indicating a wide variety of conditions:
Come whenever you can.

Clauses of reason and cause

Introduced by: because, as, since.
Non-finite (Being too young, she wasnt
accepted.) and verbless (Too young,
she wasnt accepted.)

Clause of circumstance
Express a fulfilled condition or a relation
between a premise (subordinate clause)
and the conclusion (main clause).
Introduced by: because, since, as,
seeing (that).
Non-finite and verbless without
subordinator: The weather having
improved, we went out.

Clauses of purpose
Usually infinitival and introduced by: in
order to, so as to, in order for NP to.
Finite - so that and in order that.
Negative purpose: for fear that, in
case.
Putative meaning with should, may,
might. (Im surprised that he should
react like that.)

Clauses of result
Introduced by so that or so (informally),
Usually final position in super-ordinate
clauses.
We planted many trees so (that) the
garden looks nice in spring.

Clauses of manner and

comparison
Introduced by (exactly) as, (just) as.
In formal English, these sentences
placed initially. (correlative so may
introduce the main clause):
Just as he does it, (so) I my do it.
Sometimes S / aux. inversion is
necessary: I like it as did my mom.
As if / as though

Clauses of proportion and

preference
Express equivalence of tendency or degree
between two circumstances.
Introduced by as or the the.
As he became sullen, his work deteriorated.
The more sullen he became, the more his work
deteriorated.
Clauses of preference: rather than, sooner than.
Rather than go / going there by car, we went on
foot.
Rather than a new car, he bought an old one.

COMPARATIVE CLAUSES
A proportion expressed in a superordinate clause is compared with a
proposition expressed in a subordinate
clause by means of a comparative
element - as as, less .. than, more
than.

Comparative clauses
Functions:
S: More people use this brand than any
other cleaning fluid.
Cs: Im happier than anybody else.
Od: He knows more than everybody else.
Oi: The man has given more children
happiness than anybody else. (rare)
Adv: You work much harder than I do.

Comparative clauses
Ellipsis
James enjoys the theatre more than Susan enjoys
the theatre.
James enjoys the theatre more than Susan enjoys
it.
James enjoys the theatre more than Susan does.
James enjoys the theatre more than Susan.
Ellipsis of O not possible unless the V is ellipted
too - *John enjoys the theatre more than Susan
enjoys.