Two quick clause questions

Question

When they told me that I won the contest, I was very happy.Two quick questions about this sentence above:When they told me=adverbial clausethat I won the contest= Noun clauseI was very happy=main clauseQuestion 1- That I won the contest is the direct object/complement clause/noun clause. Can a noun clause be either/both the direct and indirect objects of a verb? In this sentence, the indirect object is me, so can it ever be included, as a part of the noun clause? In this example, it seems obvious that it wouldn't.Question 2- After the words when they told me that I, the word had can be placed; in this example, has it just been omitted? Can it be placed there and mean the same thing? What is the rule for when one can omit this verb?Thanks.

Miriam · Accepted Answer

Hello, Eddie.

Question 1: The D.O. will usually be a noun phrase, although other categories can fulfill the same function (gerunds, noun clauses, pronouns). The I.O. can go before or after the D.O. If it if before the D.O. it will be a noun phrase or any of the structures that can be D.O . If, on the other hand, the I.O. comes after the D.O. it will be a prepositional phrase, and the prepositions used will be to or for.

Examples:
"The woman gave the boy a chocolate."
a chocolate = D.O. (noun phrase)
the boy = I.O. (noun phrase)

"The woman gave a chocolate to the boy.
a chocolate = D.O. (noun phrase)
to the boy = I.O. (prepositional phrase)

Question 2: When two events occurred in the past and it is obvious, or explicit (because of the use of a time expression, for example), that one took place before the other, as in your sentence, it is not necessary to use the past perfect to indicate the event that took place first, and you can use the simple past instead. At the same time, it is not incorrect to use it. You can say:
"When they told me that I won" OR "When they told me that I had won"

In your example, it is obvious that you had won the contest BEFORE they let you know, so it's not necessary to use the past perfect. Be careful, however, because it's not simply a matter of omitting the "had". The past perfect takes a past participle after "had". The past tense may be different from the past participle if the verb is irregular, so you will have to take that into account.

Example:
"When they said that the boy broke the window, he denied it." versus "When they said that the boy had broken the window, he denied it."
You can use either tense. Strictly speaking, the past perfect is more appropriate in this case, but the past tense is also accepted and used.

Miriam

Two quick clause questions

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions