Thanks Bruce and Herb. You've both alerted me to the fact that "complement" has come to have a wider meaning than I have been used to. As this means that it encompasses some rather different relations, I'm not sure if this represents. THere seems to me to be a huge difference between
"I am sorry that you made the trip"
and "The fact that it rained all day depressed me."
While I am used to calling "that it rained all day" an appositive, I can see calling it a complement of "fact" because there is an = of "is" relation between "fact" and "that it rained all day" (the fact IS that it rained all day). Another proof is that you could re-write the sentence to have the complement just replace "fact": "That it rained all day depressed me."
But there is surely no such relation between "sorry" and "that you made the trip"!
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Bruce Despain
Sent: Tue 9/20/2005 2:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: Adverb clauses with "that"
Michael,
I agree with Herb, that we are dealing with a complement clause to the
adjective. I think there are a couple of related constructions that might be
relevant to your question. There are, of course, adverbial phrases (in the form
of the prepositional phrase) that may serve as a complement to an adjective.
John is similar to his father.
Another conjunction that can introduce a complement clause nowadays is "than"
when used with "different".
The way John plays his guitar is different than you play jazz.
This is relative, in that it has an antecedent ("the way"). Other adverbs like
"so" also take complements of the kind you illustrate.
John plays the guitar more romantically than he does the drums.
(Here the adverb "more", which serves as the comparative form for a
multi-syllable adverb of manner, is complemented with the "than" clause. We
might also say "more or less" or simply "less" with the same kind of complement.
)
John plays the guitar better than you play the piano.
(Here the "adverb" is the comparative form of the adjective.)
John plays the guitar as well as you play the piano.
(Here the adverb "as" (like your "so") before the adverb "well" is complemented
with a clause introduced with the second "as".)
John plays the guitar well enough that he could go on tour.
(Here the adverb "enough" modifying "well" is complemented with a clause
introduced with "that". )
Whereas these sentences illustrate certain complementation of the degree adverb
with adjectives, these forms might also be used in to modify a number or
quantifying adjective like "much" or "many".
Megan has less sand in her pail than John has in his shoe.
Megan has enough sand in her pail that someone will not steal it.
(Built like "so much" in parallel to your example.)
Taking Herb's suggestion, I believe we will be better off subdividing adverbs:
adverbs of time, place, manner, result, cause, reason, condition, concession,
justification, etc. These trail into semantic categories (what syntactic
categories do not?) and it may be difficult to reach consensus on what labels
might be most appropriate in each particular case.
Bruce
>>> [log in to unmask] 9/20/2005 1:57:34 PM >>>
Calling such a clause adverbial is testimony to the inadequacy of
terminology. Adverb is already too broad a category, including such
disparate forms as "very", "carefully", and "presumably", and probably
should not be extended further. These clauses are actually adjectival
complements, in the same sense that we have noun complement clauses like
The fact that it rained all day depressed me.
"If" and "whether" show up in sentences like
It's doubtful whether they'll show up.
It's unclear if the Alumni Association wants us to keep in touch.
Both of these can take "that" instead, but then the meaning changes a
little.
Herb
Subject: Adverb clauses with "that"
"I am glad/sorry/happy that you made the trip."
Would everybody agree that "that you made the trip" is an adverb clause
modifying glad/sorry/happy?
"Jim was so elated that he did a little dance."
Would everybody agree that "that he did a little dance" is an adverb
clause modifying "so"?
My sense is that most grammarians today prefer to reserve "adverb" for
modifiers of verbs only. When such modifiers are clauses ("I stayed
home because I was sick"), they are called either "adverb," "adverbial,"
or "subordinate" clauses. But in looking through various books, I do not
find much discussion of clauses such as those above.
A final question: can anyone think of a subordinator OTHER than "that"
that introduces a clause modifying an adjectival subjective complement
such as glad/sorry/happy above?
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