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The way (that) he eats amuses me.

I found the way (that) leads out of here.

I love ice-cream in the same way (that) I love my mom.

1) The part of speech of the word that is conjunction in all three sentences?

2) Are all three parts in bold that-clauses/noun clauses? The second one seems to be missing a subject to qualify as a clause.

3) The parts in bold, are they appositives or complements? If the latter, are they subject or object complements?

Joe
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  • These are NOT appositives. "That" serves as a subordinating conjunction on all of these sentences. They won't naturally be subject or object complements UNLESS their function serves as a noun. If they serve as adjectival or adverbial complements they won't be objective complements. – Karlomanio Feb 25 '20 at 21:35
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    These are all relative clauses modifying way. How can't be used as a relative pronoun (the way how he did it), but it can be deleted, or that can be used instead (the way he did it, the way that he did it). But since way is always used in this construction, the sense can be easily reconstructed. Much the same is true of why -- it can* be used to head a relative clause, but only if it modifies the word reason. – John Lawler Feb 25 '20 at 22:36
  • @JohnLawler So that is a relative pronoun here and not a conjunction? Also can you elaborate on why its not an appositive or complement here? – Joe Feb 26 '20 at 03:49
  • It's a relative clause, so it's not an appositive; I wouldn't call them complements, because I only use that term for noun clauses. The question of whether that in relative clauses is a relative pronoun or not has vexed people for ages. It's in the final stages of turning into one. That used to be a complementizer (not a conjunction) introducing tensed subordinate clauses. It still works that way for complements, and occasionally for adverbials; in relatives it's been conflated with the relative pronoun, and now is complementary with the wh-words. If it walks like a pronoun, ... – John Lawler Feb 26 '20 at 16:05
  • See this answer for an example of complementizer that with adverb clauses. – John Lawler Feb 26 '20 at 16:09
  • @JohnLawler You said you only reserve the term complements for noun clauses, yet in the link above (third bullet point) it says Adjective clause (NP complement), so I'm confused. I admit I still cannot fully grasp the difference between NP complement vs. relative clauses, apart from the fact that the former has a picture noun. If The rumor that he escaped is false. is a NP complement, why is The way that he eats is amusing. a relative clause? Or is this somehow different to the first sentence in my original post? – Joe Feb 26 '20 at 17:28
  • A Noun Phrase Complement is a that-clause that modifies and defines the content of a picture noun like story or report. For instance, in The rumor that he has quit is not true, the clause that he has quit is a complement clause modifying rumor. It's not a relative clause because it has no instance of the word rumor in it. – John Lawler Feb 26 '20 at 21:06
  • @JohnLawler Two questions:
    1. So is a Noun Phrase Complement a complement or not? Because after reading http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/that.html it seems there are only two types of complements (viz. subject and object) and they must be noun clauses rather than adjectival clauses.
    2. Is The way that he eats is amusing also an example of a Noun Phrase complement? Can "way" not also be a picture noun?
     – Joe Mar 01 '20 at 07:30
  • A noun complement is essentially the object complement of the verb that the picture noun is associated with. Like the rumor that he has quit means it is rumored that he has quit, which is a verbal complement. Only nouns associated with some predicate like story can take a complement clause. As to way, that's a relative clause, since it has a coreferent in the clause: the way (that, *how) he eats comes from a clause like he eats in some way that refers to manner. That's not true in noun phrase complements. There's no reference to rumor in that he has quit. – John Lawler Mar 01 '20 at 17:02
  • @JohnLawler Can you firm the following? NP complement (The rumor that...) falls into the category of complement rather than relative clause:
    1. Because there is no reference, so the part-of-speech of that is a conjunction, rather than a relative pronoun.
    2. Despite the fact that it's an adjectival clause, rather than a noun clause as complements usually are.
    3. Despite the fact that the word that is mandatory here, as opposed to being optional like the that in an object complement. (https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/73320/without-that-clause/73368#73368)
     – Joe Mar 02 '20 at 03:56
  • To clarify my third point: The rumor that he has quit. (NP complement, mandatory) You explained that this can be re-written as the following to better see why it is a complement as opposed to a relative clause. It is rumored that he has quit. (Object complement, optional) It makes me question the role of that in the first sentence, and whether it really is mandatory... – Joe Mar 02 '20 at 04:06
  • Sorry, just had another example I couldn't quite figure out: I am sure that he's fine. So am is a linking verb followed by the predicate adjective sure, and I'm guessing that he's fine is a predicate nominative(?) In any case I don't see it falling into any of the four categories you mentioned. – Joe Mar 02 '20 at 05:02
  • That he's fine is the complement of the predicate adjective sure. Any predicate can take a complement clause, and many predicate adjectives do, especially when concerned with emotions and mental processes. Sure, certain, surprised, etc all work like that. That is not mandatory in most clauses; it's an aid to parsing, and you don't need it every time. It's needed at the beginning of a sentence, to guide the parser down: That he left early was too bad is ok, but not *He left early was too bad. – John Lawler Mar 02 '20 at 14:18
  • @JohnLawler So then which of the four categories (object complement/subject complement/NP complement/relative complement) does I am sure that he's fine. fall into? Also it'd be cool if you could answer my earlier comments, thanks a lot! – Joe Mar 03 '20 at 15:51
  • Relative clauses are not complements (as I use the term, anyway). They're adjective clauses modifying an antecedent noun, not noun clauses functioning as subject or object. So there are not "four categories" (where do these exhaustive lists come from, anyway?); there are dozens of different kinds of clauses, depending on all kinds of variables. – John Lawler Mar 03 '20 at 16:58
  • @JohnLawler The categories come from this link you gave me earlier. I thought the list exhaustive, so I've been trying to categorize instances of that (as a conjunction/complementizer) into one of these. You keep emphasizing complements are noun clauses, yet in The rumor that he's fine is false., the noun complement is an adjectival clause. Likewise, in I am sure that he's fine. I don't know what you call it, maybe adjective complement (?) is also not a noun clause, but I'm guessing an adverbial clause, as it modifies sure. – Joe Mar 04 '20 at 03:55
  • @Joe: OK, hoist on my own petard, I see. It's not exhaustive. Those are not the only uses of that, of course -- only the ones that are complementizers, not demonstratives, for instance. It was relative complement that threw me. The only adjective complement clause is an NP complement (and that's a very minor category, btw, because it's entirely determined by the noun, and there's only so many of those nouns). The clause that he's fine does not modify sure, any more than a direct object modifies its verb. Adjective predicates can take complement clauses and often do. – John Lawler Mar 04 '20 at 04:02
  • @JohnLawler I know those aren't the only uses of that, but my point is that even only considering cases where that is a complementizer, it's still not complete (so I don't know why you'd say -- only the ones that are complementizers). Case in point: I am sure that he's fine. doesn't belong to any of those categories. Even now I still don't know what the particular name nor the nature of that he's fine other than that its a complement. By name I mean something like "NP Complement" or "Subject Complement"; by nature I mean something like "Adjective clause" or "Noun clause". – Joe Mar 04 '20 at 13:47
  • It's the complement of the predicate adjective. Adjectives can have complement clauses just like any other predicate. I am certain/sure/unsure/troubled/upset/angry/glad that he's fine, compare to I think/believe/doubt/rejoice/said that he's fine. Same thing, just a different variety of predicate. – John Lawler Mar 04 '20 at 16:26
  • @JohnLawler Thanks, that was clear. Can the that-clause in The belief that she is dead is true. be viewed as an appositive instead of a noun complement? Why or why not? If not, is there any example of a that-clause acting as an appositive? – Joe Mar 09 '20 at 09:36
  • No. Because it's not an appositive. Those are noun phrases that are coreferential to preceding noun phrases (like my son the guitarist) and clausemates with them. They don't modify or complement anything. And clearly the belief that she is dead has to be related to Indef believes that she is dead, so the complement of one is the complement of the other, and neither one is an appositive. Appositives are rare and easy to detect. – John Lawler Mar 09 '20 at 17:31
  • @JohnLawler On the subject of Whiz deletion, you said Whiz deletion works on both restrictive and non-restrictive relatives. So are these sentences grammatical then? 1) I read the book, (which was) written by Alex. 2) Tom said he was ill, (which was) certainly true. – Joe Mar 24 '20 at 19:44
  • I never said it worked on every relative clause. There are other restrictions, plenty of them. – John Lawler Mar 24 '20 at 20:51
  • @JohnLawler Yeah I know that, but I meant to ask if these sentences are grammatically correct (in particular using Whiz deletion to form a participle phrase at the end of a sentence):
    1. I read the book, written by Alex. 2) I read the book, written by Alex, yesterday.
     – Joe Mar 25 '20 at 10:11

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