Complement or Adjunct?

Question

What do you think is the function of the that clause in the following sentence?
(a) The fact that he is absent annoys me.
Does "that he is absent" modify "the fact" (like a relative clause as in (b) below), or complement "the fact" (similar to the that clause as in (c) below?
(b) This is the fact that I hate most.
(c) I think that he is absent.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

} What do you think is the function of the that clause in the following } sentence?
}
} (a) The fact that he is absent annoys me.
}
} Does "that he is absent" modify "the fact" (like a relative clause as } in (b) below), or complement "the fact" (similar to the that clause } as in (c) below?
}
} (b) This is the fact that I hate most.
} (c) I think that he is absent.
For real? Neither one. It's the subject of the sentence. The "The fact" is a big nothing, a clearing of the throat, a tapping of the microphone.

Clue: Which one would you leave out if you had your druthers? Do you lose anything by leaving it out?

R. J. Valentine

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]What do you think is the function of the that clause in the following sentence? (a) The fact ... as in (c) below? (b) This is the fact that I hate most. (c) I think that he is absent.[/nq]
It's a relative clause. The difference between a and b is that "the fact that X" is the subject in a and the predicate nominative in b.

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

Usenet · Answer

}
}> What do you think is the function of the that clause in the }> following sentence?
}>
}> (a) The fact that he is absent annoys me.
}>
}> Does "that he is absent" modify "the fact" (like a relative clause }> as in (b) below), or complement "the fact" (similar to the that }> clause as in (c) below?
}>
}> (b) This is the fact that I hate most.
}> (c) I think that he is absent.
}
} It's a relative clause. The difference between a and b is that "the } fact that X" is the subject in a and the predicate nominative in b.

Oh, there's a little more difference than that.

R. J. Valentine

Usenet · Answer

"The fact" plus a "that"-clause is often used as a subject instead of of a simple "that"- clause.( It's less formal)
(Collins Cobuild English Grammar)
"Curious G." (Email Removed) a écrit dans le message de

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]What do you think is the function of the ... I hate most. (c) I think that he is absent.[/nq]
[nq:1]It's a relative clause. The difference between a and b is that "the fact that X" is the subject in a and the predicate nominative in b.[/nq]
At the risk of actually answering the original question, might I venture the suggestion that the "that" clause in sentence (a) is in apposition to "the fact"? Compare "My wife Gladys ... " The "that" clause in sentence (b) is an adjectival clause modifying "fact." The "that" clause in sentence (c) is a substantive clause functioning as direct object."
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I do ask that any correction take the form of specifying the actual function of the clause in the sentence.
Thank you all so very much.

Bob Lieblich
The Gutsy Grammarian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]It's a relative clause. The difference between a and b ... the subject in a and the predicate nominative in b.[/nq]
[nq:1]At the risk of actually answering the original question, might I venture the suggestion that the "that" clause in sentence (a) is in apposition to "the fact"? Compare "My wife Gladys ... " The "that" clause in sentence (b) is an adjectival clause modifying "fact."[/nq]
In fact, in both a and b the "that" clause is in apposition to "the fact", and as appositive clauses, they differ from relative clauses because (Quirk et al., 17.26, p. 1260):
(1) "that" is a particle and not a member of the clause structure; (2) the nonrestrictive appositive clause has the same introductory item as the restrictive, ie "that" (cf. 17.33);
(3) the head of the NP must be a general abstract noun such as "that, idea, reply", etc.
[nq:1]The "that" clause in sentence (c) is a substantive clause functioning as direct object." Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I do ask that any correction take the form of specifying the actual function of the clause in the sentence.[/nq]
I don't think I corrected anything. I merely avoided using "complement" and "adjunct", useless words for non-linguists and grammarians, AFAICT, especially when the first means:

(W3NID}

2 : a phrasal category (as a noun phrase or sentence) that iscombined with a lexical head (as a verb) or a function word to form a larger constituent
and the second:
(W3NID)

3 : a word or word group that qualifies, amplifies, or completes themeaning of another word or other words and is not itself one of the principal structural elements in its sentence in the sentence *most children eat heartily*, most is an adjunct to the subject children, and heartily is an adjunct to the predicate verb eat

and "adjunct accusative" = "objective complement" (W3NID).

I think I did mention the function: relative clause, and the function: subject and predicate nominative. I may have been wrong all three times, but I notice that you didn't correct me, so I must have been right. That you call the relative clause "an adjectival clause modifying 'fact'" adds only another layer of abstruseness.

Why is it necessary to label this clause "adjectival"? (I'll answer my own question here because my first answer now deleted was an admission of ignorance, so I took the trouble to inform myself by checking out Quirk et al.) Because some relative clauses are actually adverbial, e.g. "This is the table that the boy hid under", in which sentence the relative pronoun (Quirk et al., 17.17, p. 1252) is a complement of the preposition "under".
[nq:1]Thank you all so very much.[/nq]
I don't disagree with you at all, Bob, but I figure that if someone has the nerve to ask whether a phrase or clause is "a complement or an adjunct", then he damned well can figure out the function for himself when told that it's a relative clause, which is always in apposition to the NP to which it is related by the "that" (in this case).
We can also get into a terminological discussion about the differences and similiarities between "complementation", "adjunction", and "modification", but I don't want to, except to say that both complements and adjuncts seem to me to "modify" anything to which they are attached, so it is not at all informative to attempt to distinguish between "to complement" and "to modify".

As much as I love grammar, I don't love the abstruse terminology of grammarians and linguists. Telling someone that a "that" clause is a complement or an adjunct(1) doesn't tell me a whole **** of a lot. And I gather that you are of the same opinion: you didn't use either one of those words.
NOTE:
(1)
Here is what the Lexicon of Linguistics says about "complement": (quote: http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/)
Complement
SYNTAX: YP in (H' H YP), where H is a head and H' the projection of H. According to X-bar theory, the complement of a head X0 is defined either as a position attached or adjoined to X', or as a sister of X0. Thus, in configuration (i), either A and B are complements of X0, or just B (the sister of X0).
(i) X'
/>
/ >
A X'
/>
/ >
B X0
Sometimes, the complement of a head X0 is equated with its internal argument(s).
LIT. Chomsky, N. (1986a)
Chomsky, N. (1981)
Williams, E. (1980)
And here is what it says about "adjunct":
(quote)
Adjunct
SYNTAX: a constituent in an adjoined position.
EXAMPLE: in (X Y (X ...)) Y is "Chomsky -adjoined" to X. Usually the term 'adjunct' refers to base-generated adjuncts only. (/quote)
It doesn't have an entry for "adjective" much less "adjectival clause".
I don't know about you, but I don't have the time to try to figure out what all this means in plain English.

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]It's a relative clause. The difference between a and b is that"the fact that X" is the subject in a and the predicate nominative inb.[/nq]
[nq:1]At the risk of actually answering the original question, might I venture the suggestion that the "that" clause in sentence ... anycorrection take the form of specifying the actual function of the clause inthe sentence. Thank you all so very much.[/nq]
You're right, as usual. I'd add that (c) is indirect speech "speech" here includes thought. I'd also add that if one finds oneself writing "the fact that", it may be time to stop and rethink: if "That he is absent annoys me" seems to falute too highly, "His absence annoys me" is available, as is "He's never here, and that ****** me off". It has been said of my brother that he is never in the same place once.

Mike,
Gusty grammarian.

Complement or Adjunct?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions