Collins Cobuild English Grammar (156 page)

The children’s attitude
showed me
that watching violence can affect a child’s behaviour.
This incident
proved to me
that Ian cannot be trusted.
She
arranged with the principal of her school
to take some time off.

8.118
    If you want to say that something happens, that something is the case, or that something becomes known, you can use a
that
-clause after
happen
,
transpire
, or
emerge
. The subject of the main clause is
impersonal
it
.

It often happens that someone asks for advice and does not get it.
It just happened that he had a client who rather liked that sort of thing.
It transpired that there was not a word of truth in the letter.
It emerged that, during the afternoon, she had gone home unwell.

Note that the
that
-clause must be introduced by
that
.

adjectives with nominal
that
-clauses:
I was afraid that he would fall

8.119
    There are many adjectives that can be followed by
that
-clauses when they come after a linking verb, usually
be
.

mentioning the cause of a feeling

8.120
    If you want to say what causes someone to have a particular feeling, you can mention the cause of the feeling in a
that
-clause after an adjective describing the feeling.

Everybody was sad
that she had to return to America
.
I am confident
that I shall be able to persuade them to go
.
I was worried
that she’d say no
.

Here is a list of adjectives describing feelings:

afraid

angry

anxious

confident

frightened

glad

happy

pleased

proud

sad

sorry

surprised

upset

worried

saying what someone knows

8.121
    If you want to say that someone knows something, you can say what they know in a
that
-clause after an adjective such as
aware
or
conscious
.

He was aware
that he had eaten too much
.
She is conscious
that some people might be offended
.

Here is a list of adjectives indicating knowledge:

aware

certain

conscious

convinced

positive

sure

unaware

Aware
is occasionally used with a
that
-clause beginning with a
wh
-word.

None of our staff were aware
what was going on
.

commenting on a fact

8.122
    If you want to comment on a fact, you can use an adjective describing the fact followed by a
that
-clause. The linking verb has
impersonal
it
as its subject.

It was sad
that people had reacted in the way they did
.
It is true
that the authority of parliament has declined
.
It seems probable
that the world can go on producing enough food for everyone
.

Here is a list of adjectives used to comment on facts:

apparent

appropriate

awful

bad

clear

essential

evident

extraordinary

fair

funny

good

important

inevitable

interesting

likely

lucky

natural

obvious

plain

possible

probable

sad

true

unlikely

After a few adjectives, a clause beginning with a
wh
-word can be used.

It’s funny
how they don’t get on
.
It was never clear
why she took a different route that night
.

For more information, see paragraph
9.43
.

commenting on a fact or idea

8.123
    
That
-clauses can be used after
be
to refer to a fact or idea. The subject is usually one of the nouns listed in paragraph
7.86
.

The fact is
that a happy person makes a better worker
.
The answer is simply
that they are interested in doing it
.
The most favoured explanation was
that he was finally getting tired
.
Our hope is
that this time all parties will cooperate
.

8.124
    In formal English,
that
-clauses are sometimes used as the subject of a verb, when people want to comment on a fact.

That she is not stupid
is self-evident.
That he is a troubled man
is obvious.

In less formal English,
the fact
plus a
that
-clause is often used as a subject instead of a simple
that
-clause.

The fact that what they are doing is dangerous
is not important here.
The fact that your boss is offering to do your job for you
worries me.

The normal way of commenting on a fact is to use an impersonal
it
structure. See paragraph
8.122
.

8.125
    People also use
the fact
plus a
that
-clause as the object of prepositions and of verbs that cannot be followed by a simple
that
-clause.

He is proud of
the fact that all his children went to university
.
We missed
the fact that the children were struggling to understand the exercise
.

nominal use of
wh
-clauses

8.126
    When you want to talk about something that is not certain or definite, or about which a choice has to be made, you can use clauses beginning with a
wh
-word or
whether
, like the clauses used for
reported questions
. They can be used after prepositions, and as the subject of verbs such as
be
,
depend
, and
matter
.

…the question of
who should be President
.
The teacher is uncertain about
what she wants students to do
.
What you get
depends on
how badly you were injured
.
Whether I went twice or not
doesn’t matter.
Whether you think they are good or not
is not important.

8.127
    Structures consisting of a
wh
-word plus a
to
-infinitive, which refer to a possible course of action, are used after prepositions but not usually as subjects.

…the problem of
what to tell the adopted child
.
…a book on
how to avoid having a heart attack
.
People are worried about
how to fill their increased leisure time
.

BE CAREFUL

8.128
    Note that
if
-clauses, which are used for reported questions, cannot be used after prepositions or as the subject of a verb.

Non-finite clauses

8.129
    A
non-finite clause
is a subordinate clause that contains a participle or an infinitive, and that does not contain a stated subject.

There are two types of non-finite clause. One type begins with a
subordinating conjunction
.

She fainted
while giving evidence in court
.
You’ve got to do something in depth
in order to understand it
.

This type of clause is dealt with in the sections on
adverbial clauses
(paragraphs
8.6
to
8.82
).

The other type of non-finite clause does not begin with a subordinating conjunction.

He pranced about,
feeling very important indeed
.
I wanted
to talk to her
.

This type of clause sometimes consists of a participle and nothing else.

Ellen shook her head,
smiling
.
Rosie,
grumbling
, had gone to her piano lesson.

Clauses that contain a participle and do not begin with a subordinating conjunction are explained in the following paragraphs.

types of non-finite clause

8.130
    The non-finite clauses discussed in this section work in a similar way to
relative clauses
, and, like relative clauses, they may be used for distinguishing a noun from others or they may simply add extra information.