Complement clauses

Examples of complement clauses are given in (3a, b).

These clauses were traditionally called ‘noun clauses’, because they occur in slots in the main clause that can be occupied by ordinary noun phrases – Elizabeth regretted her actions and Catherine feared the General’s temper. The contemporary label ‘complement clause’ reflects the relationship between the clauses and the verb of the main clause: Elizabeth regretted and Catherine feared are incomplete pieces of syntax which require a modifier, either a noun phrase as in the immediately preceding examples or a clause, as in (3).

The complement clauses in (3) occur to the right of the verbs in the main clauses, but complement clauses also occur to the left of verbs, as in (4).

The skeleton of the sentence in (4) is [ ] dismayed Captain Wentworth, the square brackets marking the slot waiting for some constituent. The slot could be filled by a noun phrase such as Her words but in (4) is filled by the complement clause That Anne was in conversation with Mr Elliott.

There is one more property of complement clauses to be mentioned here; they can modify a noun, as in (5).

The sequence Fanny was delighted by the idea is a complete clause. The additional that she could subscribe to a library conveys the content of the idea. It is not required to complete the syntax, but as we will see later it is not a relative clause and has been given the label ‘complement clause’ because it fills out the meaning of the word idea. Other examples of noun complement clauses are given in (6), that the committee be abolished and that we would visit Glasgow today.