I am ashamed how often he begs for money.

[Vladv1]

Is it true that many adjectives when followed by a -wh/how clause do not take a prepositions? For example; I am ashamed how often he begs for money . I am ashamed where this led to. Are there some particular often used ones?

 

[jutfrank]

I say no. In fact, I'd go further and say almost none. You might find some questionable borderline cases, and almost certainly will find dialetic examples, but I wouldn't take those too seriously.

 

[Vladv1]

I say no. In fact, I'd go further and say (almost?) none. You might find some questionable borderline cases, and almost certainly will find dialetic examples, but I wouldn't take those too seriously.

Why one CAN'T say I am ashamed of WHEN he comes home drunk, but can say "I am aware when he wakes up".

 

[jutfrank]

... but can say "I am aware when he wakes up".

That's wrong.

 

[Vladv1]

I say no. In fact, I'd go further and say (almost?) none. You might find some questionable borderline cases, and almost certainly will find dialetic examples, but I wouldn't take those too seriously.

That's wrong.

Should it be "I am aware as to when he wakes up"?

 

[jutfrank]

Should it be "I am aware as to when he wakes up"?

I have almost no idea of what you're trying to say. What sort of sense of awareness are you talking about? And what does this awareness have to do with anybody's waking up?

 

[Vladv1]

I have almost no idea of what you're trying to say. What sort of sense of awareness are you talking about? And what does this awareness have to do with anybody's waking up?

Sorry, I am trying to follow "aware" with a wh-clause.

 

[jutfrank]

Sorry, I am trying to follow "aware" with a wh-clause.

Why? It may be that you're attempting to use the pattern that I've already given you:

(be) aware of something

Here's an example:

When you're under general anaesthetic, you're not aware of what's going on around you.

The 'wh'-clause fills the 'something' slot, functioning as the object of the preposition 'of'. You can't leave the preposition out.

 

[Vladv1]

Why? It may be that you're attempting to use the pattern that I've already given you:

(be) aware of something

Here's an example:

When you're under general anaesthetic, you're not aware of what's going on around you.

The 'wh'clause fills the 'somethig' slot, functionaing as the object of the preposition 'of'. You can't leave the preposition out.

Thanks a lot. I am very grateful to you.

 

[Annabel Lee]

Is it true that many adjectives when followed by a -wh/how clause do not take a prepositions?

In A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985), Quirk et al. have a section called "[E3] Adjective complementation by a wh-clause" (pp. 1225-1226), where they cite the adjectives sure, unsure, unclear, obvious, doubtful, plain, careful, etc., as adjectives that can be followed by a -wh clause with or without an intervening preposition. Here are some of their examples. The parentheses around the prepositions indicate that the preposition is optional:

• I was unsure (of/about) what I should say.
• I was unsure (of/about) whether the problem was solved.
• John is careful (about) what he does with his money.
• Are you sure (of) how much the machine costs?
• I wasn't altogether clear (about) what we had to do.

About their featured adjectives, they write: "Most of these adjectives are intrinsically negative in meaning. In other cases, . . . the adjective tends to occur with a wh-clause in nonassertive contexts" (p. 1225). Incidentally, I have chosen not to list examples of theirs like "It was unclear whether an amendment would be accepted," because such examples can be analyzed as it-extraposition, that is, as deriving from "Whether an amendment would be accepted was unclear."

 

[Vladv1]

In A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985), Quirk et al. have a section called "[E3] Adjective complementation by a wh-clause" (pp. 1225-1226), where they cite the adjectives sure, unsure, unclear, obvious, doubtful, plain, careful, etc., as adjectives that can be followed by a -wh clause with or without an intervening preposition. Here are some of their examples. The parentheses around the prepositions indicate that the preposition is optional:

• I was unsure (of/about) what I should say.
• I was unsure (of/about) whether the problem was solved.
• John is careful (about) what he does with his money.
• Are you sure (of) how much the machine costs?
• I wasn't altogether clear (about) what we had to do.

About their featured adjectives, they write: "Most of these adjectives are intrinsically negative in meaning. In other cases, . . . the adjective tends to occur with a wh-clause in nonassertive contexts" (p. 1225). Incidentally, I have chosen not to list examples of theirs like "It was unclear whether an amendment would be accepted," because such examples can be analyzed as it-extraposition, that is, as deriving from "Whether an amendment would be accepted was unclear."

I know that some adjectives are not followed by that clauses, but are followed by -wh claues, retaining the prepoistions. I am accustomed to her, I am accustomed to how often he helps me. To follow this adjectives with that clauses, we need to use the fact that. I am accustomed to the fact that he helps me. I wonder should we use the fact that when we want to use a -when noun clause after such adjectives?