THE SUBSTANTIVE CLAUSE
=Function.=--The substantive clause is one that performs some office
of a noun. It is not a mere substitute for a noun, however, used for
the sake of variety. On the contrary, it is seldom possible to change
a noun clause to a noun, and just because there is no equivalent
noun in the language. In the sentence,--“I fear that he will come,”
it would appear at first thought that the noun clause, _that he will
come_, might be changed to _his coming_, but this would change the
meaning; for the clause implies that his coming is not expected with
any certainty, while the expression _his coming_ implies that it is so
expected. Every time, in fact, that a noun clause is used, it serves a
distinct purpose, and it is safe to assume that in a well-constructed
sentence no other element would answer so well. Let us discover some of
these purposes.
In the following sentence from Burroughs,--“To what extent the birds
or animals can foretell the weather is uncertain,” we have predicated
something not of a person, place, or thing, that could be named by a
noun, but of a _thought_, the statement of that thought telling us of
an agent and an activity performed by that agent. Hence, by means of
the noun clause we can make predications of thoughts instead of things.
In the sentences,--
“Now one codicil in my general law of freedom had been that my
seventeenth birthday should not find me at school”; and, “The
consequence is, that the seven, or nine, or fourteen lines have a
marvellous aptitude at knotting themselves up beyond the reach of
skill and patience,”--we are enabled by means of noun clauses to tell
what the codicil and the consequences are. We might give a general
definition of such nouns by means of other nouns, but to tell what this
special codicil and what this special consequence are there is no other
way than by the use of the noun clause. Hence, by means of the noun
clause, we can make certain predications that could be made in no other
way.
In the sentence,--
“Whatever ornaments she wears are of massive gold,”--we have made a
predication of certain ornaments; but instead of enumerating them in a
long list we have designated them by means of a noun clause, brief but
more comprehensive than any list could be. Hence, a noun clause may be
used to designate things when we have no names for them, or wish to
withhold the names, or find it awkward to use them.
* * * * *
=Uses of the Substantive Clause.=--As a sentence-element it has most of
the important uses of the noun.
1. Subject of a verb,--“_What is true of individual men_ is true also
of races.”--_Lowell._ Frequently, for the sake of a more pleasing
arrangement, the anticipative subject _it_ is used, and the real
subject, a noun clause, is placed after the predicate,--“_It_ matters
little _what virtues a man has_, if he is habitually inexact.”
A common type of sentence, similar to this, is one in which the
anticipative subject is followed by the verb _is_, next by an adverb,
or a phrase, or a clause, and then by the real subject; for example,
“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior
minds.” If we say, “It is chiefly through books,” the question at once
arises, “What is chiefly through books?” The answer is, “the fact that
we enjoy intercourse with superior minds.” Transposing the sentence,
we have,--“That we enjoy intercourse with superior minds is chiefly
through books,” the verb is being employed in the sense of _happens_ or
_is true_.
NOTE.--In the following sentences from Robert Louis Stevenson it is
interesting to observe how such a sentence as the one just described
comes about:
“In the midst of this Babylon I found myself a rallying point; every
one was anxious to be kind and helpful to the stranger. This was not
merely from the natural hospitality of mountain people, nor even from
the surprise with which I was regarded as a man living of his own free
will in Le Monastier, when he might just as well have lived anywhere
else in this big world.”
It is evident that the pronominal adjective _this_, which is subject
in the second sentence, stands for the second proposition in the
preceding sentence. How easily might the following sentence have been
made,--“It was not merely from the natural hospitality of mountain
people that every one was anxious to be kind and helpful to the
stranger.”
This type of sentence must be carefully distinguished from one given
in the lesson on adjective clauses; for example, “It is the universal
nature which gives worth to particular men and things.”--_Emerson._
2. Object of a verb,--“It is hard to believe _that we shall
get any good from exercise proportionate to the sacrifice of
time_.”--_Hamerton._ This is the commonest use of the noun clause.
Many of the verbs that take clauses for objects denote action of
the senses, the mind, or the emotions,--as _feel_, _see_, _hear_;
_believe_, _think_, _know_; _desire_, _hope_, _fear_. The clause is
very useful after such verbs, for instance, after _see_; for besides
seeing objects we see those objects performing actions or existing in
certain states, and often the only way to tell this is by means of the
noun clause. Often, too, it would be impossible to particularize what
we believe, or think, or hope, or imagine, or dream, without the aid of
a noun clause.
When verbs that take a direct and an indirect object are changed to the
passive form in such a way that the indirect object becomes subject, we
find the direct object remaining after the passive verb.
Active.--“He told me that the tide was rising.”
Passive.--“I was told that the tide was rising.”
In the second sentence the clause is object of the verb _was told_.
3. Objective complement.--“Understanding, that is, equilibrium of
mind, intellectual good digestion,--this with unclogged biliary ducts,
makes the Saxon mentally and physically _what we call a very fixed
fact_.”--_Lowell._ Here the clause helps to complete the verb _makes_
and at the same time tells us something about the direct object _Saxon_.
4. Object of a preposition.--“How utterly powerless are our senses
to take any measure or impression of the actual grandeur of _what we
see_.”--_King._ A noun clause so used is not always at first sight
easily distinguished from an adjective clause whose first word is
a preposition, but there are several points of difference. In the
adjective clause the preposition is a necessary part of the clause,
governing some word in the objective case, and its position may be
shifted to the end of the clause. The noun clause used as object of a
preposition is generally introduced by the word _what_, which does not
introduce adjective clauses.
The preposition governing a noun clause is frequently omitted.
(_a_) After the adjectives _aware_, _certain_, _glad_, _sure_,
_positive_, etc., especially when used as predicate adjectives,--“When
you saw a lad with that book on the desk before him, you might be
_sure_, without asking, _that he had deserved the master’s approval in
some way_.”--_Annie Preston._
If a noun were used instead of a clause after _sure_, it would be
introduced by a preposition; but it is English usage to dispense with
the preposition when we use a clause, though the clause certainly
answers the same question as the noun, viz., _sure of what_? In
disposing of a clause so used, say that it is brought in by the
adjective without the help of a preposition, or supply the preposition,
or supply the phrase _of the fact_, disposing of the clause as an
appositive of the noun _fact_.
(_b_) After such predicates as _is determined_, _is convinced_, _is
resolved_, etc.--“I am convinced _that every spring a large number of
birds which have survived the southern campaign return to their old
haunts to breed_.”--_Burroughs._
(_c_) _After_ the verbs _assure_ and _warn_,--“You very soon assure
yourself _that such springs are also fed by rain_.”--_Tyndall._
“He immediately discharged two muskets into the darkness, to warn the
enemy _that he knew of their presence and intention_.”
(_d_) After some nouns like _doubt_, _assurance_, _evidence_,
etc.--“Cæsar saw no evidence _that the gods practically interfered in
human affairs_.”--_Froude._
5. In apposition.--“We look not to the question _whether a man have
or have not children to be benefited by the education for which he
pays_.”--_Webster._ Here the clause makes definite the word _question_,
a noun of wide application.
We occasionally come across sentences constructed like the
following,--“What a man does, that he has.”--_Emerson._ The meaning
is,--“A man has what he does,” the noun clause _what he does_ being
object of the verb _has_. But in the original sentence the pronominal
_that_ is object of _has_, and this indefinite object is explained by
the noun clause _what a man does_, which is therefore to be called an
appositive. Such an arrangement arises from a desire to make the clause
prominent and also to hold the main thought in suspense until the end
of the sentence.
6. Subjective complement.--“In fact, the only difference between one of
these ice streams and an ordinary river is, _that the former moves very
slowly_.”
* * * * *
=Introductory Word.=--The substantive clause may be introduced by--
1. The relative pronouns, _what_, _whatever_, _whatsoever_, _who_,
_whoever_, _whoso_, _whosoever_, _which_, _whichever_. When introducing
noun clauses none of these words have an antecedent, hence it might be
more precise to call them merely pronouns. Their office is more than an
introductory one, for they have a function within the noun clause, just
as relative pronouns have within adjective clauses.--“I wondered _who
the priest was that_ _wore it_.”--_Howells._ Here the pronoun _who_ is
the subjective complement of the verb was in the clause.
2. The adjectives _what_, _whatever_, _whatsoever_, _which_,
_whichever_, _whichsoever_. These are indefinite limiting
adjectives.--Tell me _what time it is_.
3. The words _if_, _that_, _whether_. These are ordinarily
subordinating conjunctions, but when introducing noun clauses they
should not be considered connectives at all; for a subject does
not need to be connected to its predicate, nor a complement to the
verb it completes, nor an appositive to the noun it explains. These
introductory words serve rather to put the clause into shape, to make
it appear as a subordinate part of the sentence.--“‘I wonder _if his
heart is any softer_,’ thought the Fox.”--_Froude._ “The truth now
flashed upon me _that my companion was a schoolmaster_.”--_Lamb._
The introductory _that_ is sometimes understood.--“It is true _all
things have two faces, a light one and a dark_.”--_Carlyle._
_Whether_ usually takes _or_ as a correlative,--“Chaucer did not waste
time in considering _whether his age were good or bad_.”--_Lowell._
4. Conjunctive adverbs, like _where_, _when_, _how_, _why_. These words
always modify some word in the clause.--“We need not say _how much we
admire his public conduct_.”--_Macaulay._ _How_ modifies the adverb
_much_.
5. _But_ or _but that_, being equivalent to _that not_.--“‘Who knows
_but in the end I may turn into a dog_?’ said the Fox.”--_Froude._
* * * * *
=“There” used as an Anticipative Subject.=--We have already spoken
of the anticipative subject _it_, whose office is to throw the real
subject after the predicate verb. Another word used in the same
way is _there_; for example, “_There_ is no good reason for a bad
action.”--_Spurgeon._
This word is not the adverb _there_, for it conveys no idea whatever.
It does nothing at all for the meaning of the sentence, as is shown by
our slighting it in reading.
After the anticipative subject _there_ the real subject is almost
always a noun with modifiers, but it may be a noun clause; for
example,--“No, indeed, there is no wonder _that God loved the
world_.”--_Phillips Brooks._
The verb in these sentences is usually some form of the verb _be_. It
is not the copula so often as it is the complete intransitive verb
_be_, meaning _exist_. In the sentence,--“There are many kinds of sea
fowl that feed on fish and build their nests on the sea coast,” the
entire predicate is the verb _are_.
When the verb is a copula it is often completed by a prepositional
phrase denoting an attribute of the subject. For example, “There is not
a crevice in it where anything green can lodge and grow.”--_King._ Here
the predicate is _is in it_.
Other intransitive verbs are occasionally found after _there_,
as in the sentence, “There _came_ to the beach a poor exile of
Erin.”--_Campbell._
Exercise 7
Select noun clauses in the following sentences, telling the use of
each, its introductory word, and use of that word in the clause, if it
has any.
1. People are always cheating themselves with the idea that they would
do this or that desirable thing, if they only had time.
2. My notion is that you should let me go, and give me a lamb or goose
or two every month, and then I could live without stealing.--_Froude._
3. He was desirous that the people should think for themselves as well
as tax themselves.--_Macaulay._
4. Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.
5. I’m very certain there was nothing about him that could
spoil.--_Jerrold._
6. The Reverend Amos Barton did not come to Shepperton until long
after Mr. Gilfil had departed this life.--_George Eliot._
7. I think it does not matter just when I came to Venice.--_Howells._
8. We charge him with having broken his coronation oath; and we are
told that he kept his marriage vow.--_Macaulay._
9. The worst of a modern stylish mansion is, that it has no place for
ghosts.--_Holmes._
10. It is with lent money that all evil is mainly done, and all unjust
war protracted.--_Ruskin._
11. The poor man humbly assured him that he meant no harm, but merely
came there in search of some of his neighbors, who used to keep about
the tavern.--_Irving._
12. I need not say that in real sound stupidity the English are
unrivaled.--_Bagehot._
13. What his violins were to Stradivarius, and his fresco to
Leonardo, and his campaigns to Napoleon, that was his history to
Macaulay.--_Trevelyan._
14. It is by his poetry that Milton is best known; and it is of his
poetry that we first wish to speak.--_Macaulay._
15. Shall I care about how they criticise the outside of my
life?--_Phillips Brooks._
16. The next half hour, at most, would decide the question of
whether he would or would not get up from his bed and leave the
room.--_Collins._
17. So, what was contentment in the slave became philanthropy in the
emperor.--_Lord._
18. They showed no reverence except that they did not talk or laugh
loudly.--_Besant._
19. We are convinced that the measure was most injurious to the cause
of freedom.--_Macaulay._
20. We must not wonder that the outside of books is so different,
when the inner nature of those for whom they are written is so
changed.--_Bagehot._
21. Now, what puzzles me is, that anybody, old or young, should forget
this,--that the path of life leads to something.--_Munger._
22. I can say to you what I cannot first say to myself.--_Emerson._
23. They were compelled to choose whether they would trust a tyrant or
conquer him.--_Macaulay._
24. The reason why so few good books are written is, that so few
people that can write know anything.--_Bagehot._
25. Men are what their mothers made them.--_Emerson._