The Subjunctive in that-Direct Object Clauses.

Factive and Suasive Verbs

According to whether they convey factual information, usually reporting speech events, or
“propose a potential course of action,”1 verbs fall into two groups. The verbs that refer to
factual information and function as statements are called factive/factual verbs. Those which
involve the speaker’s intention to persuade the addressee to perform an action function as
directives and are known as suasive verbs. Compare:
She pretended that she had replaced it. (factive)
He ordered that they (should) stay. (suasive)
Factive or factual verbs have been divided into public and private verbs. The former
introduce indirect speech by complementizer that, and, often, direct speech, e.g.
acknowledge, add, admit, affirm, allege, announce, argue, assert, bet, boast, claim, comment,
complain, concede, confess, confirm contend, convey, declare, deny, disclose, exclaim,
explain, forecast, foretell, hint, insist, maintain, mention, object, predict, proclaim, promise,
pronounce, prophesy, protest, remark, repeat, reply, report, retort, say, state suggest, swear,
testify, vow, warn). Private verbs express intellectual states (i.e. belief) and acts (i.e. discovery),
e.g. conclude, demonstrate, gather, guess, hold, note, notice, observe, pretend, remember,
reveal, show, suppose, think, understand etc.2
The distinction between public and private suasive verbs is rather difficult to
establish: ask, beg, command, concede, decide, decree, demand, desire, enjoin, ensure,
entreat, grant, insist, instruct, move, ordain, order, pledge, pray, pronounce, propose,
recommend, request, require, stipulate, suggest, urge. Other verbs belong here too: agree,
allow, arrange, determine, intend, prefer, resolve, rule, vote. (Quirk et al: 1182) With some of
them, mainly allow, the structure NP + to-Infinitive is a common alternative to that –
clauses:. Compare:
He intends that the report should be ready by Monday;
He intends the report to be ready by Monday.
Both groups control that-clauses and can be followed by direct speech. However,
they differ in their complementation. Factives often allow an Indirect Object as well as a non-
human Direct Object in SVOO sentences, and are followed by a complement clause with the

1
Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, Edward Finegan; Foreword by
Randolph
Quirk, 1999, Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Longman, p. 667.
2
Randolph Quirk et al., A Grammar of Contemporary English, Longman, 1985, pp. 1015, 1180-1182.
verb in the Indicative. Suasives seldom take an Indirect Object. The object clause has its own
subject, and its verb is usually a putative should structure (esp. in BrE), a mandative/old
Subjunctive (esp. in AmE) or an Indicative (restricted mostly to British English). Compare:
I suggested that they should be there in time.
I requested that they be there in time.
I concluded that they would be there in time.
Infinitival complementation occurs with both types of verbs. If, with the former, the
Subject of the Infinitive is deleted only when it is co-referential with the Subject of the main
clause, after the latter, the Subject of the Infinitive is typically deleted, irrespective of whether
it is co-referential with the main clause Subject, an Od or an Oi:
She pretended (she) to have replaced it.3
He promised (he) to stay.
They implored us (we) to stay.
They ordered us (we) to stay.
Compare:
They insisted (‘required’) that we (should) stay. (suasive)
They insisted (‘asserted’) that she was to blame. (factive)

They suggested (‘recommended’) that we (should) stay there. (suasive)

They suggested (‘said tentatively’) that she was to blame. (factive)

Compare:

a) The lawyer insists that the witness tell the truth. (Subjunctive)

b) The lawyer insists that the witness tells/is telling the truth. (indicative)

where ‘The lawyer is demanding that the witness should tell the truth’ (a); and ‘The lawyer is
claiming that the witness is in fact telling the truth’. (b)

3
In Subjectless to-Infinitive and –ing clauses the Subject, which is identical with the Subject of the matrix
clause, is deleted by Equation. (cf. Tamara Lăcătuşu, 2005, Essentials of English Syntax. Composite Sentences,
Casa Editorială Demiurg, Iaşi, p. 104) Verbs like ask, claim, demand, pretend, promise, threaten, etc. take only a
to-Infinitive clause, whereas deny and suggest select only –ing clauses. With verbs like offer, promise and threat,
the Subject of the Infinitival clause is co-referential with the matrix clause Subject, e.g. He threatened to report
the case to the police. A different subject can be introduced only by a that- clause, e.g. He threatened that they
would report the case to the police. If the Subject of the subordinate clause is identical with the O i or Oprep in the
matrix clause, the verbs command, mumble, order, request, require, shout, summon and tell will take a to-
Infinitive clause, e.g. She told them to stay. By Complex NP Shift, the OdCl will be placed after the Oprep, e.g.
She shouted at them to stop. She shouted the threats at me is also possible. (cf. Idem, pp. 105-111).

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