Content set
Content sentence (also: subject or supplementary sentence ) is a term in German grammar for a subordinate clause (more precisely: a clause ) that takes on the role of subject or object to a verb. One then speaks of subject or object sentences or, more generally, of argument sentences. German grammars, however, are not uniform in terms of whether their concept of the content sentence exactly coincides with this concept of the argument sentence.
Content clauses, especially as the object of a verb, often indicate the content of what one says, asks, suspects, wishes, etc. They can be inquired about - like subjects or objects.
Sample for proof of content sentences
Commas often separate content clauses from main clauses. They are often introduced with the conjunction “that”, but not exclusively. By replacing it with pronouns (es) or question words (what) , the content sentence can be identified as part of the main clause:
- "I knew that I had seen this man before ."
- Replacement sample for the object sentence ( that sentence): “What did I know? / I knew that."
- “I want to know why he's so upset. "
- Replacement sample for the object sentence (question mark): “What do you want to know? / I want to know that."
(See also the other example sentences in the next section).
In contrast to the substitutions of the content clauses with was / es / das , adverbial clauses have substitutions by adverbs :
- “I stay where I am. "
- Replacement for the adverbial subordinate clause: "I stay there / there / here." - NOT: "I stay that. "
With regard to the last example, it should be noted that content sentences can only be recognized by their function, not always by the form of their introductory element : The above where sentence is an adverbial sentence, since it serves as a location; however, a content sentence can also be formed with wo if it introduces an indirect question with a suitable verb (as in the above example with I want to know ... ).
Grammatical form of content sentences
It is generally accepted that the following three forms of subordinate clauses can fall under the term content clause:
- Conjunctional clause with that or whether : "It is known that the day has 24 hours ."
- (The content sentence is the subject of the predicate “is known”).
- Indirect questioning sentence with question pronouns / question adverb: "One wonders why he made this suggestion ."
- (The content sentence is the object to the verb “ask oneself”).
- Infinitive: "The students be prepared to, no homework to get ."
- (The content sentence is a prepositional object , introduced by (dar) on , which in turn is dependent on the verb “set oneself”).
Problem and borderline cases
In addition to conjunctive, question and infinitive clauses, relative clauses (namely as free relative clauses ) can also be the subject or object of a verb, for example:
- " Anyone who has visions should see a doctor."
- Question sample for the subject sentence (subject in the nominative ): "Who should go to the doctor?"
Nevertheless, relative clauses are expressly differentiated from content clauses, at least in Duden grammar. The Duden grammar defines content clauses as subordinate clauses that are neither relative nor adverbial .
According to the above-mentioned classification of Duden grammar, predicative subordinate clauses ( i.e. sentences that appear after a copula verb such as sein or will ) can be content clauses (provided they are not relative clauses). Since predicatives are not objects in the strict sense (only complements of the copula), predicative subordinate clauses can also be separated from content clauses.
See also
Web links
- Subject sentence and object sentence = content sentence , Canoonet
- Subject sentence and object sentence (with exercises), Günther Neumann, lo-net² , (archived version in the Internet Archive )
Individual proof
- ↑ Duden - The grammar. 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim 2009, p. 1029.