---
title: "That-Clause | Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics"
description: "That-clause: a subordinate clause introduced by that that functions as a complement in Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics, often inside belief reports."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/introduction-semantics-pragmatics/key-terms/that-clause"
type: "key-term"
subject: "Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics"
unit: "Unit 6"
---

# That-Clause | Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics

## Definition

A that-clause is a subordinate clause headed by that, usually serving as a complement to a verb, noun, or adjective. In Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics, it often shows up in belief, knowledge, and report structures.

## What It Is

A that-clause is a subordinate clause in Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics that typically fills a complement slot, most often after a verb like believe, know, say, or think. The clause names a proposition, so it gives the content of a thought, statement, or attitude rather than standing as a full independent sentence on its own.

The classic shape is something like, “I think that she is coming.” Here, the that-clause is “that she is coming,” and it tells you what proposition the speaker is thinking about. The same structure can appear after nouns and adjectives too, as in “the claim that the data were falsified” or “happy that the class ended early.”

A useful detail in English is that that is often optional in speech and casual writing. You can say “I think she is coming,” and the meaning is basically the same. In semantics, though, the clause itself still matters because it is the part that carries the propositional content being evaluated, reported, or mentally held.

That-clauses matter a lot when the course turns to propositional attitude verbs. These verbs describe someone’s mental relationship to a proposition, such as believing, hoping, doubting, or knowing. The that-clause gives the embedded proposition, while the main verb tells you how the subject relates to it.

That-clause constructions can also report indirect speech. “Maria said that the train was late” does not quote Maria word for word, but it preserves the content of what she said. That makes these clauses useful for studying how language packages meaning, perspective, and context inside a single sentence.

## Why It Matters

That-clauses are one of the cleanest places to see the difference between sentence meaning and a person’s attitude toward that meaning. In Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics, they give you a concrete way to track how a proposition gets embedded inside another expression, which is exactly what happens with belief reports, knowledge claims, promises, and reported speech.

They also show why truth conditions get more complicated in attitude contexts. If you say “Nina believes that the museum is closed,” the embedded clause may be true or false in the actual world, but the whole sentence is really about Nina’s mental state, not just the museum. That shift is central when you start comparing plain declarative sentences with propositional attitude contexts.

That-clauses also help you spot complement structure in real data. If you are parsing a sentence, identifying the that-clause tells you where the embedded proposition begins and what the main predicate takes as its content. That makes it easier to explain ambiguity, indirect speech, and differences between literal quotation and reported meaning.

The term shows up everywhere in the course because it sits right at the boundary between syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. You can use it to talk about sentence structure, but also about perspective, reported content, and how meaning changes when a proposition is placed inside someone’s mind or speech.

## Connections

### Propositional Attitude Verbs

That-clauses often appear as the complement of propositional attitude verbs like believe, know, think, and want. The verb tells you the attitude, while the that-clause gives the proposition being evaluated. This pairing is the main reason the term matters in semantics, since the meaning of the full sentence depends on both pieces working together.

### Complement Clause

A that-clause is one kind of complement clause, which means it completes the meaning of a larger phrase or sentence. Not every complement clause has to start with that, but that-clauses are a common English example. When you identify a complement clause, you are usually asking what proposition a verb, noun, or adjective selects.

### Noun Clause

That-clauses are often treated as noun clauses because the whole clause can function like a noun phrase in the larger sentence. For example, “That he passed the test surprised everyone” uses the clause as the subject. This is useful when you are figuring out what grammatical role the embedded proposition is playing.

### [Two-dimensional Semantics](/introduction-semantics-pragmatics/key-terms/two-dimensional-semantics)

That-clauses become especially interesting when the course moves into more advanced semantic frameworks like two-dimensional semantics. In those discussions, the same clause can be evaluated in different ways depending on context or world of evaluation. The embedded proposition stays the same shape, but its interpretation can shift.

## On the AP Exam

A quiz question might give you a sentence and ask you to identify the that-clause, label its grammatical role, or explain what proposition it contributes. In a short analysis, you may need to show that the clause is the embedded content after a verb like think or say, not the whole sentence.

You may also be asked to explain why the sentence means more than its literal words. For example, with belief reports, the main task is to separate the speaker’s claim from the proposition inside the clause. On problem sets, that usually means bracketing the embedded clause, naming the matrix predicate, and saying whether that is optional in the surface form.

## that-clause vs to-infinitive

That-clauses and to-infinitives can both function as complements, but they do not behave the same way. A that-clause usually has its own subject and finite verb, as in “I think that she left,” while a to-infinitive is non-finite, as in “I want to leave.” If you are identifying sentence structure, check whether the embedded clause contains tense and its own subject.

## Key Takeaways

- A that-clause is a subordinate clause introduced by that and used as a complement in larger sentences.
- In semantics, it usually names the proposition that someone believes, says, knows, or reports.
- That is often optional in English speech, but the embedded proposition is still doing the semantic work.
- That-clauses can act as subjects, objects, or complements of nouns and adjectives depending on the sentence.
- They are a basic tool for analyzing propositional attitude reports, indirect speech, and embedded meaning.

## FAQs

### What is that-clause in Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics?

A that-clause is a subordinate clause headed by that that functions as a complement inside a larger sentence. In this course, it usually shows up as the proposition inside a belief, knowledge, or speech report, like “I think that she is right.”

### Is a that-clause the same as a complement clause?

Not exactly. A that-clause is one kind of complement clause, but complement clauses can also be formed without that or with other structures. The main idea is that the clause completes the meaning of a verb, noun, or adjective.

### Can you omit that in a that-clause?

Yes, in many English sentences you can leave out that, especially in speech and informal writing. “I believe she left” and “I believe that she left” usually mean the same thing, though the version with that can sound a little more explicit or formal.

### How do that-clauses relate to propositional attitude verbs?

Propositional attitude verbs like believe, know, and think take that-clauses to express the proposition someone has an attitude toward. The verb tells you the mental state, and the that-clause gives you the content of that mental state.

## Related Study Guides

- [6.1 Propositional attitude verbs and their semantics](/introduction-semantics-pragmatics/unit-6/propositional-attitude-verbs-semantics/study-guide/UERy53TqFOqIRaOD)

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