• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.134-139
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• 2021

This paper discusses the types and functions of English subordinate clauses, whether English subordinate clauses (SC) are headed by a Complementizer (CP) or headed by a lexical (but not functional) Preposition (PP). Furthermore, unlike the standard classification, the current paper provides a finer-grained analysis and classification of English SCs. The traditional or prescriptive view on the functions of English SCs includes Noun SC such as complement clauses, Adjectival SC including relative clauses, and Adverbial SCs that cover a garden variety of subordinators. Added to the existing classification of subordination in English is what I notate as Verbless subordinate clause (V-less SC). Of these 4 different types of subordinate clauses with different functions, properties, and distributions, Subjectless Verbless subordinate clause is further divided into Smallest small clause (SSC) which accounts for English subordination mechanism more uniformly and consistently with respect to their clausal architecture, especially when the subordinate clause is neither PP nor CP.