I'm trying to figure out how to explain noun phrases like, "the moment I read this clause."

The moment I read this clause, I began to wonder.

It's an adverbial NP, but what kind of clause follows "moment"?

You can say "the moment that I read this clause" but not *"the moment which I read this clause." A relative pronoun plays a role in its clause, but there's no slot for a pronoun here. So, not a relative clause.

On the other hand, if the clause is a nominal appositive, we should be able to swap it with the noun phrase it renames, right? But you can't do that here:

*I read this clause the moment, I began to wonder.

Maybe the elided word is "when"?

??The moment when I read this clause, I began to wonder.

Which would make it a relative clause that begins with an elided "when"? That doesn't sound especially grammatical to me, but maybe I've been thinking so much about it that I've got some semantic satiation going on.

My students are asking me about this kind of construction (another example: "The day I saw you, I fell in love") and I'm wondering how to describe it. I'll check CGEL too but thought maybe someone on the list has already developed a student-friendly explanation.

Thanks,
Beth

Dr. Beth Rapp Young
Associate Professor, English
[log in to unmask]

University of Central Florida
"Reach for the Stars"