[missing subject?]

Question

Hi,Please look at these sentences. The first four sentences look as if a subject is omitted for the underlined part. I am thinking how I judge whether a subject should be omitted or not when I encounter other sentences.   1.He did not consent to take more than was owed to him. ?2.He did not consent to take more than belonged to him. ?3.He did no more  than was necessary. ?4.This is harder than expected.  In these sentences, should I omit the word "what"?I can't tell you more than [what] happened.  This scandal is more serious than [what] is acknowledged.  Thank you very much.

BillJ · Accepted Answer

stephenlearnerHi,Please look at these sentences. The first four sentences look as if a subject is omitted for the underlined part. I am thinking how I judge whether a subject should be omitted or not when I encounter other sentences. 1.He did not consent to take more than was owed to him. ?2.He did not consent to take more than belonged to him. ?3.He did no more than was necessary. ?4.This is harder than expected.

1. He did not consent to take more than was owed to him.

2. He did not consent to take more than belonged to him.

3. He did no more than was necessary. ?

4. This is harder than expected.

The underlined elements are all comparative clauses as complement of "than".

The important thing about such clauses is that they are usually obligatorily reduced in certain ways relative to the structure of main clauses. The reduction can take several forms.

In all your examples, the subjects have been obligatorily omitted, and additionally in [4] an auxiliary verb has been omitted. In [1] for example, the subject of "was" is omitted, though it is understood from the context. Compare:

He did not consent to take more money than was owed to him.

*He did not consent to take more money than money was owed to him.

As you can see, if we include "money" in the comparative clause, it becomes ungrammatical. (Note that I've used "money" as the subject simply to make the point).

stephenlearnerIn these sentences, should I omit the word "what"? I can't tell you more than [what] happened. This scandal is more serious than [what] is acknowledged.

You could, in which case they would be noun phrases, not comparative clauses. I would advise against it, since there's nothing to be gained by omitting more than is necessary.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for the answer.

[missing subject?]

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions