John, 

 

I'll be happy to try my hand at your question. 

 

The first example is where the (factive) nominal clause is serving as the subject of the sentence.  A common paraphrase is: "It is obvious that the healthcare system needs fixing."  I believe this order is used to save the content for end position.  Traditionally the nominal clause in this position is called an explanitory clause, because it explains what "it" is all about.  

 

The second example is the adjectival clause.  The "that" is traditionally considered a relative pronoun because it relates to the cat, which is not part of the clause.  From the Latin point of view this pronoun is serving as the subject of the clause referring to the sleeping cat.  There has been some discussion on this listserve last year concerning the possiblity of analyzing the "that" as a filler related to the "that" of the nominal clause, which serves no more function than to signal the beginning of the clause.  Both functions do not seem far from the deictic function of the demonstrative "that."

 

The third example is what might be considered a combination of the two above functions of "that."  The nominial clause in this position is serving as what is called an appositive.  The appositive is a nominal construction that serves as an adjectival modifier, here to the noun "theory."  Hence, the reason I suggested that it is a combination of the two functions.  Here again we see its factive denotation, now serving as an explanitory clause. 

 

The last sentence quoted is indeed structured as an imperative.  The unusual part of the construction is that it is provided with an adverbial adjunct of condition.  This particular conditional clause has been worded using the auxiliary "should," which is the modern version of what was formerly called a subjunctive mode or mood.  Its use here is to signal a hypothetical situation.  Adverbial clauses may normally be paraphrased as separate sentences: "You may have some trouble identifying the house.  In this case ..."

 

I hope this will help.

 
Bruce Despain

Retired linguist

--- [log in to unmask] wrote:

From: John Chorazy <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Noun clauses
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:20:44 +0000

Hello to all... I've been talking with students (11th grade) about clauses and have collected some questions that the list might have some thoughts on.

The use of "that" as the head of a noun clause (and subject): "That the healthcare system needs fixing is obvious."

"That" used in an adjective phrase: "Unlike the cat that slept all day, the dog ran around and barked."

And if we can get some insight to the following use of "that": "Lynn Margulis' theory that evolution is a process rather than a competition differs dramatically from the theories of most biologists."

Are the last two simply restrictive clauses using the relative pronoun?

Also (a bit different) - anyone care to parse the following? "Should you have any trouble identifying the house, just remember that it has a big brass knocker on the door." Students see the implied "you" as the subject and its verb remember, but not what's going on up front.

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,

John

 

 

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