1. Subject clauses and related
structures
Presented by : supervised by: prof. Jennifer June Evans
Mustapha Aboulahassan prof. Tamer Youssef

3. Indicate the subject clause in each sentence
and identify its type( infinitive, gerund,that,or
interrogative)
1. That Obama got so many votes surprised
everyone.
2. for Alan to spread such an outright lie
would be unthinkable.
3. Whether they will take disciplinary action
against him has not been decided yet.
4.

4. Answers :
1. That obama got so many votes ( that clause)
2. for Alan to spread such an outright lie (
infinitive clause)
3. whether they will take disciplinary action
against him ( interrogative clause).
4.

5.  TYPES OF SUBJECT CLAUSES
 USE OF SUBJECT CLAUSES IN DISCOURSE
 MOVEMENT OF SUBJECT CLAUSES
 EXTRAPOSITION PATTERN VR. SENTENCES WITH SUBJECT
CLAUSES
 RELATED STRUCTURES WITH NOUN PHRASE SUBJECTS

6.  SUBJECT RAISING SENTENCES VR. SENTENCES WITH
EXTRAPOSED THAT CLAUSES
 PROBLEMS EFL/ESL STUDENTS HAVE WITH SUBJECT CLAUSES
AND RELATED STRUCTURES
 ACTIVITY

8.  There are four types of subject clauses that
appear in subject position.
e.g. [ that he is lazy all the time] doesn t surprise
her.

9.  Infinitive clauses are clauses that contain a verb in its
infinitive form. They are a type of nonfinite clause.
e.g. To speak fluent English requires a lot of time and
work.

10. Infinitive clauses can appear in subject position
in these cases.
 Before verbs like delight and occur
 Before be+adjectives like, easy and difficult
 Before be+nouns including, error, mistake,
offense and task.

11. Infinitive clauses may have a subject, which is
preceded by for.
e.g. For Kamal to ignore her advice would be foolish.
complementizer

12. Gerund clauses contain a verb in the present
participle form, like the infinitive clause they
are not marked for a tense.
e.g. Speaking fluent English requires a lot of
time and work.

13. Gerund clauses may contain as their subject.
 noun in the possessive form
e.g. Ali’s refusing our invitation took us
completely by surprise.
 possessive pronoun
e.g. His refusing our invitation took us
completely by surprise.

14. Gerund clause can occur with many of the
same verbs and be+adjectives and noun
combinations as infinitive clauses.
 Many subject infinitive clauses have gerund
clause counterparts
 e.g. To get an interview with him is practically
impossible.
 e.g. Getting an interview with him is
practically impossible.

15. That clauses are introduced by the
complementizer that and include a subject
and a past or present tense.
 e.g. That the earth is round was a
revolutionary idea at that time .

16. That clauses occur before :
 be+adjective including, apparent, clear, and
remarkable.
e.g. That I managed to get my MA degree at
all is truly remarkable
 be+nouns including, accident, miracle, result
of
e.g. That we continue to help each other is the
result of our collaboration.

17. Interrogative clauses, or embedded question
clauses, begin with a wh-element and like
that clause, they have a present or past tense
verb or a modal.
Interrogative clause can be the subject of verbs
including , bother, concern, depend on…
 e.g. Whether this is the right decision or not
will depend on his principles.

18. Interrogative clauses can also occur before:
 Be+adjectives, such as arguable, certain,
obvious…
e.g. How he plans to that is not obvious.
 Be+nouns, such as concern, issue, matter…
e.g. Whether Brahim completes the task today
or next week is not the matter.

20. Subject clauses are a vehicle for linking new
information to old information.
e.g. The scientific community is now focusing
intently on finding a cure for this dreaded
disease. To accomplish this goal will not be
easy. It requires very expensive research.
 The object NP this goal is an old information
referring to finding a cure for this dreaded disease
and thus linking to the preceding sentence.

22.  Extraposition:
Clauses in subject position can be moved to the
end of a sentence. The subject position is filled
by it.
e.g. For Khalid to ignore her advice would be
stupid.
It would be stupid for Khalid to ignore her
advice .

23. Extraposition applies to :
 Infinitive clauses: with main clause verbs
including amuse,bother,delight…
 And be+adjective like difficult, easy ,foolish
e.g. To understand this lesson is easy.
It is easy to understand this lesson.

24.  with that clause , extraposition is possible
with main verbs such as amaze, bother, and
surprise.
 And be+adjectives including, apparent, clear,
evident.
e.g. That he likes her is quite obvious
It is quite obvious that he likes her.

25. A few number of intransitive verbs – appear,
come about, develop, happen,seem… can
appear only in sentences with extraposed that
clauses but CAN NOT occur in sentences with
that clause in subject position.
e.g. It appears that she wont be joining us
⃰ That she wont be joining us appears.

26.  Interrogative clause can be extraposed when
they are followed by be+adjectives such as
clear,important,obvious and so on.
e.g. How Omar does it is not important
It is not important how Omar does it.

27. Generally, gerund clauses resist extraposition. But
exception can be found.
e.g. Protesting the new policies would be no use
It would be no use protesting the new policies

28. Exercise 2: Indicate whether each of the following
sentences has an extraposed counterpart. If so,
give the extraposed counterpart; if not, explain
why.
Example: insulting the boss in front of everyone was
really a dumb idea.
Answer: no ( Gerund clauses do not extrapose well)
1. To be awarded first prize in this contest is a great
honor.
2. For Alan to be denied the right to a fair trial
would be outrageous.
3. Paying off our mortgage has markedly improved
our financial position.

29. Answers:
1. Yes, It is a great honor to be awarded first
prize in the contest.
2. Yes, It would be outrageous for Alan to be
denied the right to a fair trial.
3.No ,Gerund subject clauses do not extra pose
well

31. Extraposition pattern Subject clause
Occur far more in speech and Used to Link to previous
writing discourse and to shift to a new
topic .
Makes it possible to create
sentences with multiple embedded When we have a complex
clauses. constituent in the main clause
e.g. It embarrassed her that it was following the verb.
so obvious that he was angry.
e.g. To include that issue in the
⃰ [That [that he was angry] was so forthcoming Students Loans Bill
obvious ] embarrassed her. would make the measure hybrid.

33. In addition to the extraposition pattern
sentences , they are other sentences that are
alternative to subject clauses. And they both
involve the movement of an NP from an
extraposed subject clause into subject
position in the main clause.
These alternatives are Tough movement and
Subject Raising sentences.

34.  Tough movement
An object of an infinitive clause in an
extraposition pattern sentence moves into
subject position in the main clause occupied
by it*.
e.g. It is easy [ to understand this lesson].
This lesson is easy [to understand].

35.  Tough movement can also operate on infinitive
clause with subjects.
e.g. It s easy for Kamal to understand this lesson.
This lesson is easy for Kamal to understand.

36. For tough movement to apply the main clause
must have be, or a similar verb followed by
either,
 an easedifficulty adjective.
OR
 An NP that has a similar easedifficulty
meaning. For example, a joy, a pain

37.  Subject Raising sentences
The subject of an infinitive clause is moved into
the subject position in the main clause. The rule
that does this is subject raising
 Subject raising occurs with verbs such as
appear, happen ,and seem.
e.g. It seems[Mohamed to enjoy my company].
Mohamed seems [to enjoy my company].

38.  Subject raising rule can also apply to sentences
with be+probability adjectives including unlikely,
likely, certain.
e.g. It is likely [the value of the dollar to go up in
January].
The value of the dollar is likely [to go up in
January].

40.  subject raising sentences:
e.g. The first thing he thought of when he
woke up was Marge. She wasn’t likely to take
a taxi to Naples.
 The pronoun she has an antecedent link to
the previous discourse. Which is Marge.

41.  Extraposed That clause sentences
e.g.
The report states that it is likely that more
than half of all conventional gas reserves
that will be ultimately produced in US have
been already produced.
 The principle of end weight favors that
pattern when that clause is a long, complex
noun phrase.

43.  EFLESL students do not find problems with
subject clause sentences may be because
they are not used that frequently and they
occur in written English. But the real problem
is with Tough Movement and extraposition
structures which occur in spoken English.

44. Spanish speakers will often omit the it required
in extraposition structures. An intermediate
ESL student may make errors like this:
⃰ Is very hard to live without privacy.
⇨ this particular type of errors is fairly common
with low-intermediate and intermediate-level
students.