Scott,

Klammer et al. in Analyzing English Grammar discusses this particular construction and notes that in addition to "happy"  lists "glad," "sad," "angry," "hurt," "confident," "doubtful," "positive," and past participles functioning adjectively like "disappointed," "distressed,"and  "pleased" take "noun phrases as adjective complements." Pretty unusual stuff, eh?

Marshall Myers
Eastern Kentucky University

________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Woods
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 11:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: What kind of clause is this?

What kind of clause is the underlined part below?  I think it is an adverbial clause modifying happy.  Is this reasonable? Are there other reasonable analyses?

The boy was very happy that his mother did not see him being such a pig.

Thanks,
Scott Woods


To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/