CHAPTER VII
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.
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=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_.”
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=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._
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=“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._