That clause is the subject of the sentence

Question

1) why is it that he can pass the exam easily?

2) why is that he can pass the exam easily?

Which one is grammatically correct? because " that clause" can be a subject of the sentence so it is like a noun.

eg. That he is getting insame makes me surprised.

So the clause " that he is getting insane" is the subject of the sentence. and with " why" , we can put a questions based on the pattern : why is + noun? eg. why is he? why is it?

Therefore, in # 2 above, " why is ( that he can pass the exam easily) . So I assume this sentence is correct, is it right?

Thanks you so much.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

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Only #1 is correct. So are these:

That he is insane surprises me.
It surprises me that he is insane.
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Mr Wordy · Answer

Only #1 is possible. The "that" clause is not a subject; "that" is a conjunction (I hope that's the right term!) and works in essentially the same way as in "I know that he can pass the exam easily". "that" can be omitted.

"That he is going insane makes me surprised" is different. Here the "that" clause is the subject. "That" cannot be omitted. (This is a fairly convoluted and unusual way of expressing this idea.)

That clause is the subject of the sentence

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