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In the captioned sentence:

You don’t have a clue where your money is.

If "where your money is" is a nominal clause, what is its relationship to "clue"?

I am thinking maybe the nominal clause is an adjectival clause, acting as an adjective predicative to the noun "clue".

Helmar
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Chu Wa Tim Tim
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    Have a clue is a negative-polarity idiom that is equivalent to know, be aware. As such, it has many of the same affordances as know, including the ability to take a wh-clause complement. I.e, the sentence means "You don't know where your money is", and the wh-clause is clearly the direct object of know. – John Lawler Aug 11 '16 at 22:06
  • The word clueless has a meaning that is related to this idiom — when applied to a person, it means uninformed, ignorant, confused, or even stupid. – Scott - Слава Україні Aug 12 '16 at 00:38
  • "Where your money is" is the type of clue you don't have. – Hot Licks Sep 30 '16 at 18:10
  • And the wh-clause is also called an embedded question. – Greg Lee Sep 30 '16 at 18:32
  • @GregLee - Except that that terminology is misleading -- there is no question. – Hot Licks Sep 30 '16 at 19:55
  • @Scott -- If Sherlock Holmes is "clueless" that doesn't mean he's any of those things. Nor does not having a clue about the whereabouts of your money imply any of those things -- it may simply be you had your accounts with Wells Fargo. – Hot Licks Sep 30 '16 at 19:57

1 Answers1

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Have a clue is a negative-polarity idiom that is equivalent to know, be aware. As such, it has many of the same affordances as know, including the ability to take a wh-clause complement. I.e, the sentence means "You don't know where your money is", and the wh-clause is clearly the direct object of know. – John Lawler

Helmar
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