verbs followed by that clause
With "that"
We can use clauses with that:
• after verbs of thinking:
- think
- believe
- expect
- decide
- hope
- know
- understand
- suppose
- guess
- imagine
- feel
- remember
- forget
I hope that you will enjoy your holiday.
She didn’t really think that it would happen.
I knew that I had seen her somewhere before.
• after verbs of saying:
- say
- admit
- argue
- reply
- agree
- claim
- deny
- mention
- answer
- complain
- explain
- promise
- suggest
They admitted that they had made a mistake.
She argued that they should invest more in the business.
The children complained that they had nothing to do.
Note: tell and some other verbs of saying must always have a direct object (see clauses, sentences and phrases):
- tell
- convince
- persuade
- inform
- remind
We tried to tell them that they should stop what they were doing.
The police informed everybody that the danger was over.
• as postmodifiers after nouns to do with thinking or saying:
- advice
- belief
- claim
- feeling
- argument
- hope
- promise
- report
- guess
- opinion
- idea
He made a promise that he would do all he could to help.
I had a funny feeling that something was wrong.
• after some nouns to say more about the noun:
- fact
- advantage
- effect
- possibility
- chance
- danger
- evidence
- problem
- difficulty
She pointed out the danger that they might be left behind.
There was a chance that we would succeed
Note: We often use a that clause to define one of these nouns after the verb be :
- danger
- problem
- chance
- possibility
- fact
The danger is that we will be left behind.
The fact is that it is getting very late.
• after some adjectives which describe feelings to give a reason for our feelings:
- pleased
- sorry
- happy
- unhappy
- sad
- excited
- glad
- disappointed
- afraid
I am sorry that you can’t come.
Everybody was pleased that the danger was past.
It is lucky that you were able to drive us home.
No "that"
NOTE: We can always use a clause without the word that:
They admitted [that] they had made a mistake.
The police informed everybody [that] the danger was over.
I am sorry [that] you can’t come.
There was chance [that] we would succeed.
English Grammar
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- to + infinitive
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- talking about the present
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- verbs in time clauses and if clauses
- wishes and hypotheses
- the verb be
- link verbs
- delexical verbs like have, take, make and give
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- phrasal verbs
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- verbs followed by to + infinitive
- verbs followed by -ing clauses
- verbs followed by that clause
- Clause, phrase and sentence
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Comments
its very easy for me :)
Hello.
I've come across such a sentence: The teacher suggested that her students write a composition.
It's a kind of reported speech, isn't it? Why don't we move the tense back then? Can we use "wrote" instead of "write"?
team
Hello Anandymaya!
Actually, both sentences are OK. Older grammar books will tell you that you must move the tense back, but we don't always. Have a look at my answer to Anthonis below for a bit more information. Here, it's not clear that the whole situation is definitely in the past (perhaps the teacher suggested it yesterday, and the assignment is due next week) so either tense is OK for write.
Hope that helps
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,
I have a question about tenses:
In which case we use a base form of the verb after the that clause, because in the below sentences all verbs are in differents tenses.
Thinks
Please let me know if the below sentences are right.
1. "He told me that he will meet you on Monday."
2. "She said that she doesn't like Cricket."
Do we have to use past tense in the second part of the above sentences? I have confusion on tenses in such compound sentences.
team
Hello Anthonis -
These are perfectly OK. Older grammar books will often tell you that in reported speech you should move the tense back, but this doesn't reflect how we actually talk or write. In 1, if you are talking about a future Monday (say, next Monday) will is fine. Likewise, in 2, we are talking about a general preference, so again it is OK to use the present. The only reason you would definitely use the past is if you are talking about the past.
1. He told me that he would meet you on Monday. It is Tuesday now, and he didn't come. (therefore, past)
2. “She said that she didn't like cricket.” Now, this could mean exactly the same as your first example. It might mean, however, that she didn't like cricket before but she does like it now.
Hope that helps - I know you've asked about this issue on a couple of our pages, but rest assured that it is a little bit easier than you think. Just try to think about the sequence of events logically, and remember we usually use present tense for general statements.
Regards
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team
I have a quick question, which is the right sentence?
We advise that the Report provides
We advise that the report provide
Thanks!
Alejandro
team
Hello, Alejandro!
That's actually a tough question! The first sentence is perfectly OK. However, the second one is an example of the subjunctive. Don't worry too much about the name – it's a way of showing that you think something which comes after that is very important without saying 'the report should/must provide...' Another example is something like 'It is essential that every child have a good education'. It's usually only used in formal writing, and is more common in American English than in British English. Hope that helps!
Regards
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team
great practice!! i want to do practice like this.
this website is the best one i had used, it is very useful.i hope i can improve my English
But there is one question,when i submitted the comment,i can't find that.
Just show a sentence:
Your comment has been queued for moderation by site administrators and will be published after approval .
Several times!
Who can tell me why?
Thanks a lot
Have a nice day~~