Clauses

The Clausal Category S

The distribution of S

A clause (S) can occur in the following environments:

• S can occur as an independent declarative clause: [_S Pat is ill.]
• S follows a complementizer: [Sandy thinks that [_S Pat is ill.]]
• S follows a subordinate conjunction: [Pat arrived before [_S we were fully prepared.]]

The internal structure of S

Obligatory elements:

• S must contain a verb
• S must contain a subject. Usually this is an NP (in nominative case), but it can also be an S ([_S That Kim is always late] bothered Pat enormously.) or a VP[inf] ([_VP[inf]To have missed the soccer game] bothered Pat enormously.)

Optional elements:

• There may be adverbials at the beginning of S (Last night Pat didn't sleep well., Wisely, Pat locked the door before going to bed.,> According to recent studies, Germans drink more coffee than beer.)

Complementizer-introduced sentences

English has 3 words whose function it is to mark that a clause is a subordinate clause: that, whether, if.

• The complementizer that introduces declarative subordinate clauses: Pat thinks [_S that [_S Sandy smokes]].
• The complementizers whether and if introduce interrogative subordinate clauses: Pat asked [_S whether [_S Sandy smokes]].
• The complementizer if also introduces conditional subordinate clauses: [_S If [_S Pat is ill]], we won't hold the picnic.

The internal structure of S' Obligatory elements: an S the S is usually preceded by a complementizer, an interrogative constituent or a relative constituent. S' introduced by a complementizer: Pat knows [_S that [_S Kim passed the exam]]., Pat wants [_S for Kim to pass the exam] S' introduced by an interrogative constituent: Pat knows [_S which book [_S Kim is reading at the moment]]. S' introduced by a relative constituent: Pat knows the author [_S whose most recent book [_S Kim is reading at the moment]]. The structure of an S' that is used as an interrogative clause or as a relative clause will not be considered in this section. For S' introduced by a complementizer, the following phrase structure rule can be given: S' -> Comp S