Reference tables

That: roles of

Role	Function / Explanation	Example
Relative pronoun	Introduces a relative clause (often restrictive) and refers back to a noun.	The book that you lent me was fascinating. (“that” = “book”)
Subordinating conjunction	Introduces a noun clause, often after verbs like “think,” “know,” “say,” etc.	I think that she is right.
Demonstrative pronoun	Refers to a specific thing or idea, often pointing at something farther away in space or time.	That is amazing! (“that” refers to something mentioned or visible)
Demonstrative adjective / determiner	Modifies a noun to indicate a specific one.	I don’t like that movie.
Expletive / filler (less common, literary)	Used for emphasis in clauses without adding meaning.	It is such that we cannot ignore it. (formal/literary)
Conjunction (older/dialectic)	Historically and in some dialects, that can function as a coordinating conjunction meaning “and”.	The storm grew darker, that we sought shelter in the barn.”. (that=and)

That determinative: rhymes with “cat”

That subordinate: rhymes with the last syllable of “delicate” (never stressed)

Adjectival Determiners

Determiner Class	Adjectival?	Example
Articles	No	the, a, an → the dog
Demonstratives	Yes	this, that, these, those → this book
Possessives	No	my, your, his → my pen
Numbers	Yes	one, two, first → three cats
Distributives	Yes	each, every, either, neither → each student
Quantifiers / general	Sometimes	some, many, all → many friends
Interrogative determiners	Yes	which, what, whose → which book

Demonstratives: pronouns vs. determiners (adjectives):

Feature	Demonstrative Pronoun	Demonstrative Determiner (Adjective)
Function	Replaces a noun entirely	Modifies a noun, points out which one
Accompanies a noun?	No	Yes, it always comes before a noun
Examples	This is amazing. / That was fun.	This book is amazing. / Those movies were fun.
Grammatical role	Acts as the subject, object, or complement	Acts as an adjective modifying a noun
Notes	Can stand alone	Cannot stand alone; needs a noun to modify

Examples:

Word	As a pronoun	As a determiner
this	This is delicious. (stands alone, subject)	This cake is delicious. (modifies noun “cake”)
that	That was amazing.	That movie was amazing.
these	These are mine.	These shoes are mine.
those	Those look great.	Those flowers look great.

Personal pronouns by case

Person, Number	Subjective Case	Objective Case	Possessive Determiner	Possessive Pronoun	Reflexive Pronoun
First Person Singular	I	me	my	mine	myself
Second Person Singular	you	you	your	yours	yourself
Third Person Singular	he / she / it	him / her / it	his / her / its	his / hers / its	himself / herself / itself
First Person Plural	we	us	our	ours	ourselves
Second Person Plural	you	you	your	yours	yourselves
Third Person Plural	they	them	their	theirs	themselves

Determiner: Dependent possessive Pronoun: Independent possessive

Genitives types

Phrase	Wrong	✅ Correct
the teacher’s car	complement	genitive determiner
a bottle of wine	complement?	“of wine” = complement (because of-phrases after nouns like bottle/type/idea are complements!)
John’s arrival	complement	dependent genitive

Possessives

Type	Specific Items	Example Sentence	Explanation
Possessive Pronouns	mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs, [no it]	This pen is mine.	“Mine” replaces “my pen.”
Possessive Adjectives	my, your, his, her, its, our, their	My phone is on the table.	“My” modifies “phone” to show ownership.
Possessive Determiners	my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose	Our team won the match.	“Our” modifies “team” to indicate possession. Whose is a determiner too but not an adjective.

Common “wh” word and their function

Word	Can be relative pronoun?	Can be relative adverb?	Notes
who	✅	❌	Refers to people; can be subject or object of relative clause
whom	✅	❌	Object form of “who”
whose	✅	❌	Possessive relative pronoun
which	✅	❌	Refers to things/animals; can be subject or object
that	✅	❌	Can refer to people or things; restrictive only
where	✅ (relative pronoun/adjective)	✅	Refers to place; replaces “in/on which”
when	✅ (relative pronoun/adjective)	✅	Refers to time; replaces “on/in which”
why	❌	✅	Refers to reason; “for which”

Nominative & accusative

Situation	Pronoun case	Example
Finite clause (past/present)	Nominative	I saw her.
Non-finite infinitive clause	Accusative	For me to succeed would be amazing.
Non-finite participle clause	Accusative	Seeing me, she waved.
Object of preposition	Accusative	Between you and me…
ECM / raising verb with non-finite	Accusative	I expect him to arrive soon.

Focus adjuncts vs. focus modifiers

Feature	Focus Adjunct	Focus Modifier
Syntactic status	Adjunct (optional, attachable to VP/clause)	Modifier (bound to NP/AdjP/VP)
Position	Movable; often pre- or post-verb	Fixed; tightly integrated with constituent
Scope	Clause-level; highlights part of proposition	Constituent-level; modifies a specific word or phrase
Examples	only, even, just (in “John only solved it”)	only, just (in “the only solution”)
Function	Focus/limit information of the clause	Focus/limit a specific constituent

Participle by type

Form	Primary Construction	Example
Gerund-participle	Progressive aspect	She is working.
Gerund-participle	Pre-adjunct	Working late, he felt tired.
Past participle	Perfect aspect	They have finished.
Past participle	Passive voice	The work was finished.

Comparison of finite vs. non-finite (participle)

Feature	Finite Verb (wrote)	Participle (writing / written)
Tense	Present / Past	None
Agreement	Subject–Verb agreement	None
Clause Type	Independent / Main clause	Non-finite clause
Mood	Indicative / Subjunctive	None

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Predicate, predicator, predicative

Term	Level	Type	Core Role
Predicate	Clause	Function (informal)	Everything except subject
Predicator	Verb head	Function	Licenses complements; determines clause type
Predicative	Complement	Function	Attributes property/state/role to an NP

Attributive vs. Predicative

Feature	Attributive	Predicative	Examples
Position	Inside the noun phrase, directly modifying the noun	Clause-level, usually after a copular verb	a heavy book vs The book is heavy
Function	Modifies or determines the noun	Ascribes a property, identity, or relation to the subject	“heavy” modifies “book” vs “heavy” describes “book”
Applicability to adjectives	✔	✔	old friend / The friend is old
Applicability to determiners	✔	✖ (cannot occur predicatively)	the book / *The book is the
Possessives	✔ (my book)	✔ (The book is mine)	Attributive: my, Predicative: mine
Articles	✔ (the book, a book)	✖	Cannot appear after copula

Primary vs. secondary predicative

By type:

Type	Predicated NP	Licensing	Example
Primary predicative	Subject NP	Copular/linking verb (be, seem, become)	The door is unlocked → unlocked predicates the subject
Secondary predicative	Usually object NP (can be subject as depictive)	Non-copular verb that allows result/state	I left the door unlocked → unlocked predicates the object

By properties:

Property	Primary predicative	Secondary predicative
Predicated of	Subject	Object / non-subject NP
Clause type	Copular	Non-copular
Number per clause	At most one	May co-occur with object
Typical verbs	be, become, seem, turn	elect, call, paint, make
Semantic role	Property / identity of subject	Property / role of object

Predicative adjectives, their complements, and optionality

Adjective	Complement Type	Example	Realization (optional/obligatory)	Notes
proud	PP	She is proud of her achievements	Optional (She is proud ✅)	Predicative adjective; morphology irrelevant
certain	that-clause	He is certain that she will come	Often obligatory for full meaning (He is certain ✅)	Simple adjective; complement lexically specified
eager	to-infinitive	She is eager to help	Optional (She is eager ✅)	Predicative adjective; complements to-infinitive
interested	PP	He is interested in linguistics	Optional (He is interested ✅)	Derived from verb interest; syntactically behaves like other predicative adjectives

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Complements by type

Feature	Predicative Complement	Object Complement	Adjective Complement
Describes	Subject (identifies or describes the subject)	Object (completes or specifies the object)	Adjective (completes or specifies the meaning of the adjective)
Selected by	Verb, usually copula or linking verb (part of verb’s valency)	Verb (part of the verb’s valency)	Adjective (predicative adjective licenses the complement as part of its lexical valency)
Formal CGEL definition	“A complement licensed by a copular or linking verb that predicates the subject”	“A complement that is licensed by the verb and completes or specifies the object NP”	“A complement licensed by a predicative adjective that completes its meaning; may be PP, NP, infinitival, or clause”
Example	He is president	They elected him president	She is proud of her achievements
Syntactic position	Follows copula/linking verb	Follows object	Follows adjective
Optionality	Often obligatory with copula	May be optional or obligatory depending on verb	Determined by adjective; usually obligatory if the adjective selects it

Complement, predicative, object

Function	Head	Category	What it does
Complement	any head	any	is selected
Object	verb	NP	participant
Predicative	verb	AdjP/NP	assigns property

Complements by head category

Head category	Head example	Complement	Example
Verb	depend	PP	She depends on him
Adjective	proud	PP	She is proud of her son
Noun	fact	clause	the fact that he left
Preposition	because	clause	because he was tired

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Ways to introduce relative clause

Introducer	Type / Role in Clause	Example	Notes
Relative pronoun	Subject, object, complement	The man who came is tall.	Obligatory when the antecedent functions as subject/object; links relative clause to NP; includes who, whom, whose, which, that.
Relative adverb	Adverbial head (time/place/reason)	The place where we met	Introduces an adverbial relative clause; cannot serve as subject or object; includes where, when, why.
Zero relative (Ø)	Implicit object	The book I read	Occurs when the relative pronoun is omitted, typically object-gap relatives; co-indexed with antecedent NP; fully grammatical.
Comparative “as”	Head of comparative relative clause	He is taller than I am	Less common; introduces a comparative clause; links clause to a preceding NP or AP; functions syntactically as the head of the comparative clause.

Option 4 is less common in modern English

WH Subordinators

Subordinator	Type	Can Function as Pronoun?	Can Function as Adverb?	Example as Subordinator (can be complementizer)	Example as Pronoun/Adverb
that	as subordinator	No (modern English)	No	I know that you’re right.	–
who	pronoun	Yes	No	She asked who called.	Who called? (pronoun)
whom	pronoun	Yes	No	I don’t know whom to invite.	Whom did you see? (pronoun)
which	pronoun	Yes	No	I don’t know which to choose.	Which is yours? (pronoun)
what	pronoun	Yes	No	Tell me what you want.	What is that? (pronoun)
whose	pronoun	Yes	No	I don’t know whose it is.	Whose book is this? (pronoun)
when	adverb	No	Yes	I remember when we met.	When did you arrive? (adverb)
where	adverb	No	Yes	She showed me where to go.	Where are you going? (adverb)
why	adverb	No	Yes	I wonder why he left.	Why did he leave? (adverb)
how	adverb	No	Yes	He explained how it works.	How did you do that? (adverb)
if	conjunction	No	No	I asked if she agreed.	–
whether	conjunction	No	No	I don’t know whether to stay.	–

if (not the conditional) replaces whether, less formal

Prepositional relative marker

A two-part connector that introduces a relative clause, made up of Preposition + Relative pronoun

Preposition	Relative Pronoun	Combined (Prepositional Relative Marker)
in	which	in which
for	whom	for whom
with	which	with which
to	which	to which
by	whom	by whom

Function of the relativized element inside the relative clause

Function	Example	Gap position shown	Real gap?	Notes
Subject	the man [who __ likes bad news]	subject of likes	No (not really)	who occupies the subject position; the gap is sometimes shown analytically but nothing is actually missing.
Direct object	the movie [that I watched __]	object of watched	Yes	The object position is empty because the relativized NP is outside the clause.
Object of preposition (stranding)	the package [that I waited for __]	object of for	Yes	Very common in English; the preposition remains in place.
Object of preposition (pied-piping)	the package [for which I waited __]	object of for	Yes	The preposition moves with the relativizer, but the object position is still a gap.
Predicative complement	the person [who she became __]	complement of became	Yes	The predicative complement position is empty.
Object of comparison	the person [who she is taller than __]	complement of than	Yes	Gap inside comparative clause.
Adjunct complement of preposition	the day [when I arrived __] (≈ on which I arrived)	complement of on (underlying)	Yes	Often expressed with when/where/why.
Determiner inside NP	the student [whose book __ was stolen]	determiner of book	No gap	whose occupies the determiner position; nothing is missing.