Real Grammar - Susan Conrad, Douglas Biber 2009

That-Clauses or infinitive Phrases for Attitudes
Unit 36 It is possible that…

What have you learned from your grammar textbook?

The grammatical word it can occur as the subject of a sentence when a that-clause or an infinitive phrase comes at the end of the sentence:

• It is clear that you did not study.

• It is hard to work at night.

What does the corpus show?

A

That-clauses or infinitive phrases with it as subject are common in academic writing, but rare in conversation. These structures are some of the most important ways to express attitudes in writing.

B

It + is + adjective + that-clause. This structure is used to evaluate an idea. The adjective expresses the author’s attitude or evaluation, and the idea is expressed in the that-clause.

C

It + is + adjective + infinitive phrase. This structure is used to evaluate an action. The adjective expresses the author’s attitude or evaluation, and the action is described in the infinitive phrase.

D

Noun + that-clause. This structure is also commonly used in academic writing to evaluate an idea. In this case, the noun expresses the author’s attitude or evaluation, and the idea is expressed in the that-dause.

Activities

1 Notice in context: Read the two passages from different academic texts, underline the that-clauses and infinitive phrases. Circle the evaluative nouns and adjectives that are modified by those clauses and phrases.

1. From a study about discrimination against women in two large companies.

It is hard to know how to measure this kind of evidence. It is not at all unlikely that some pressure was put on women in these two key firms, but it may have been more persuasion rather than intimidation.

2. From a handbook about conditions for farming.

While there appears to be conflict of opinion regarding the best temperature of the water, there is little doubt that in some regions the water may become excessively hot. Investigations indicate that high water temperature adversely affects grain development.

2 Analyze discourse: Look back at Activity 1 and at each noun or adjective that you circled, write the type of evaluation that it gives (certainty, possibility, doubt, difficulty etc.) in the margin. Draw an arrow between the noun/adjective and the evaluation type. Discuss with a partner.

3 Practice the structure: Complete each sentence with an appropriate noun or adjective, plus that or to, from the lists in Sections В-D. There may be more than one possible answer.

1. If there is concern about whether there is a sufficient amount of time for the analysis of data, it may be ... consult with others regarding realistic periods of time for the completion of research.

2. Should parents teach children good manners and even good beliefs? There is no ... children learn far more by example than by instruction, and for that reason teachers have a continuous obligation to behave well themselves.

3. Once the beer can had been invented, it was ... it would eventually take the place of the bottle all over the world.

4. Given that science is often thought of as a laboratory-based activity, rather than a “bookish” subject, it is ... note that in three of the four schools studied, science departments had begun activities to develop basic library and information retrieval skills as part of the curriculum.

5. From discussions with younger students, it was ... for many young people the image of the bookstore was old fashioned, dusty, a place for scholarly introverted people. Yet many of the children had been in bookstores and knew them not to be so.

4 Practice writing: Express your opinion on each one of the topics listed below, use it + is + adjective + that-clause or infinitive phrase for each topic.

1. Learning to play an instrument at an old age

2. Writing a best-selling novel

3. Speaking more than one language

4. Traveling to foreign countries

Example

Training a dog to deliver the newspaper to its owner

It is difficult to train a dog to deliver the newspaper.

It is likely that the dog will chew up the newspaper before delivering it.

5 Practice writing: Look back at Activity 4. Choose one of the topics and write a paragraph that explains your opinion in more detail. Include at least two more that-clauses and infinitive phrases to express your evaluations.

Example

The assumption that a dog can be trained to do anything is unlikely to be true. For example, it is difficult to train a dog to deliver the newspaper. Unless the dog is very obedient, it is likely that it will chew up the newspaper before delivering it....