Tenseless subordinate clause

Main clause can’t be tenseless. Must have a tense:

Your dog bit me

~~ Your dog bite me~~ (plain)

~~Your dog biting me~~ (gerund-participle)

~~Your dog bitten me~~(past participle)

Subordinate clauses can lack tense

Subordinates with plain form

Mandating

Commanding, urging, requiring, etc (Mandative clause is the “subjenctive”)

  • Always introduced by that

  • Always the subject

  • If it’s a pronoun - in the nominative (I, he, she, we, they)

Verb is plain form is the formal version:

It is essential *that she be there promptly at noon

I only ask that the dog stay out of the the bedroom

The dean insisted that I attend his stupid meeting

Informal does use tensed:

that she’s there … (she is)

that the dog stays …

that I attended …

Infinitival

  • to-infinitivals (not the to preposition)

  • bare infinitival (less commonn)

  • Many verbs, adjectives or nouns specifically select infinitival clauses as their complements

  • Verbs like want, try, hope, love and more take to-infinitivals

  • Modal auxiliaries take bare infinitival complements (will be careful, be careful etc)

We tried to be careful (Try verb, to-infinitival)

We will be careful (Will modal aux, base infinitival)

I’ll be happy to help you (happy, adjv, to-infinitival)

Their plan to keep it secret failed (plan, noun, to-infinitival)

Special cases:

  • “Help” takes both

  • “Make” takes bare in active, and to- in passive

It was made to …

Infinitival interrogative

  • Closed or open (like interrogatives)

  • No subject

  • No tense

I didn’t know whether to believe them of not (know, verb)

I did not know who to talk to

It’s unclear whether to … (unclear, adj)

It’s unclear who to …

Infinitival with subjects

  • Introduced by the subordinator “for” (for is not a preposition here)

Jim arranged for us to be met at the airport (arranged for us to meet someone)

As for prep:

Jim arranged to be met at the airport for us (What Jim arranged he meet someone, and it’s somehow he does that “for us”)

Subordinates with gerund-participle

  • Act almost as NP

  • Often occur as the object of a preposition

I’m worried about going there after dark (no subject)

I’m worried about him going there after dark (accusative subject)

I’m worried about his going there after dark (genitive pronoun subject)

Subordinate with past-participle

  • Complement of the auxiliary Have (aux). “Perfect” in the sense of “completed” in the past, that has present relevance.

The president has given her a job in the White House

Have you written that recommendation letter yet?

  • Principle verb in a passive clause

Most of the plants in the field had been trampled by wild hogs

He produced a document written in a foreign language (noun modifiers)