ABSTRACT

Dependent clause which functions syntactically as a subject. Sentential subject clauses in the form of conjunctive clauses are introduced by that, if, who, how, they can also be expressed by participial constructions: It became clear only later that he had no such intentions; Helping her (that) can be difficult. Semantically, sentential subject clauses are modifiers of a semantically empty (usually optional) dummy element in the main clause such as it, that, the fact that. ( also sentential)

A constraint on transformations suggested by J.R.Ross, whereby no constituent may be moved out of a sentence which is the subject of a clause. For example, [*Who did [that Caroline was going out with-] bother you?]. In this respect, subject sentences are ‘islands’ from which no constituents can be moved.