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Please how can i diffenciatebetween nominal appositive clause introduce by that, and relative clause clause introduce by that .Thanks in advance

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Anonymous Please how can I diffentiate between a nominal appositive clause introduce by 'that' [no comma] and a relative clause clause introduced by 'that'.

The appositive case can only occur after a noun signifying an entity that has a linguistic content, e.g., claim, problem, proposal, suggestion, promise, etc. [Someone claimed that ...; The problem is that ...; Someone promised that ...]

Therefore:
1. Without such a noun, the clause has to be a relative clause.
2. With such a noun, the clause may be relative or appositive.

So the only problem in differentiating these structures is in case 2 above.

If the that-clause tells the content of the claim, problem, proposal, etc., it's appositive.
If the that-clause identifies the claim, problem, proposal, etc., i.e., tells which claim, etc. it is, it's relative.

the claim that the moon is made of green cheese
(Someone claims that the moon is made of green cheese.)
Content clause, i.e., appositive clause.

the claim that was put forward by the committee
(The committee put forward this claim.)
Relative clause.
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On a rare occasion you will find that-clauses that can be interpreted both ways. Huddleston (Introduction to the Grammar of English) gives this example: The proposal that he was advancing was preposterous. As a content clause we have the meaning The proposal that he was being promoted in his career was preposterous. As a relative clause we have the meaning The proposal that he was presenting (to the others) was preposterous.

CJ

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