Content Clauses in English

Abstract

In the case of J espersen (l964: 349-351), the term 'content clause' refers to both> sentential complements and appositional complements. For example, (1) a. He believes that the world is round. b. He knows the fact that the world is round. The italicized part of (la) which does not contain a head noun is a sentential complement, whereas the italicized part of (1b) which contains a head noun is an appositional corriplemenL Jespersen's term, 'content clause, refers to both categories. This paper, however, uses the term in a narrow sense which refers only to sentential complements which are preceded by head nouns. In traditional grammars, content clauses were understood to the effect that head nouns and their content clauses constitute a syntactic appositional relationship. Furthermore, Jespersen (op. cit.) indicated that head nouns and their content clauses may be separated by Extraposition. With regard to content clauses, generative-transformational grammars have not much surpassed studies of traditional grammars, particularly in their semantic explorations.