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English subordinators
English subordinators (also known as subordinating conjunctions or complementizers) are words that mostly mark clauses as subordinate. The subordinators form a closed lexical category in English and include whether; and, in some of their uses, if, that, for, arguably to, and marginally how.
Syntactically, they appear immediately before the subordinate element. Semantically, they tend to be empty.
Peter Matthews defines subordinator as "a word, etc. which marks a clause as subordinate." Most dictionaries and many traditional grammar books use the term subordinating conjunction and include a much larger set of words, most of them prepositions such as before, when, and though that take clausal complements. The generative grammar tradition uses the term complementizer, a term which sometimes excludes the prepositions.
The subordinators are whether; and, in some of their uses, if, that, for, arguably to, and marginally how.
Whether is always a subordinator. It marks closed interrogative content clauses such as I wonder whether this would work. It is often possible to substitute if for whether, the main exceptions being when the subordinate clause functions as the subject, as in Whether it's true is an empirical question and cases with or not, such as I'll be there whether you are there or not.
If is a subordinator when it marks closed interrogative content clauses such as I wonder if this would work. It is always possible to substitute whether for subordinator if. Where such substitution is not possible, if is instead a preposition, usually with a meaning that is usually conditional but sometimes concessive (They were jubilant, if exhausted, etc).
That is a subordinator when it marks declarative content clauses such as I think that this would work and in relative clauses such as the fact that he was there. In contexts where it could be contrasted with this, it is a determiner.
For is a subordinator only when it marks infinitival clauses having a subject such as for this to happen (in which this is the subject). In sentences like "I shall not be imprisoned unjustly, for I have rights", it is instead a preposition.
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English subordinators
English subordinators (also known as subordinating conjunctions or complementizers) are words that mostly mark clauses as subordinate. The subordinators form a closed lexical category in English and include whether; and, in some of their uses, if, that, for, arguably to, and marginally how.
Syntactically, they appear immediately before the subordinate element. Semantically, they tend to be empty.
Peter Matthews defines subordinator as "a word, etc. which marks a clause as subordinate." Most dictionaries and many traditional grammar books use the term subordinating conjunction and include a much larger set of words, most of them prepositions such as before, when, and though that take clausal complements. The generative grammar tradition uses the term complementizer, a term which sometimes excludes the prepositions.
The subordinators are whether; and, in some of their uses, if, that, for, arguably to, and marginally how.
Whether is always a subordinator. It marks closed interrogative content clauses such as I wonder whether this would work. It is often possible to substitute if for whether, the main exceptions being when the subordinate clause functions as the subject, as in Whether it's true is an empirical question and cases with or not, such as I'll be there whether you are there or not.
If is a subordinator when it marks closed interrogative content clauses such as I wonder if this would work. It is always possible to substitute whether for subordinator if. Where such substitution is not possible, if is instead a preposition, usually with a meaning that is usually conditional but sometimes concessive (They were jubilant, if exhausted, etc).
That is a subordinator when it marks declarative content clauses such as I think that this would work and in relative clauses such as the fact that he was there. In contexts where it could be contrasted with this, it is a determiner.
For is a subordinator only when it marks infinitival clauses having a subject such as for this to happen (in which this is the subject). In sentences like "I shall not be imprisoned unjustly, for I have rights", it is instead a preposition.