Just as the object noun, pronoun, infinitive, etc., is retained after a passive verb (Sec. 352, 5), so the object clause is retained, and should not be called an adjunct of the subject; for example, “We are persuaded that a thread runs through all things;” “I was told that the house had not been shut, night or day, for a hundred years.”

(3) Complement:  “The terms of admission to this spectacle are, that he have a certain solid and intelligible way of living.”

(4) Apposition. (a) Ordinary apposition, explanatory of some noun or its equivalent:  “Cecil’s saying of Sir Walter Raleigh, ’I know that he can toil terribly,’ is an electric touch.”

(b) After “it introductory” (logically this is a subject clause, but it is often treated as in apposition with it):  “It was the opinion of some, that this might be the wild huntsman famous in German legend.”

(5) Object of a preposition:  “At length he reached to where the ravine had opened through the cliffs.”

Notice that frequently only the introductory word is the object of the preposition, and the whole clause is not; thus, “The rocks presented a high impenetrable wall, over which the torrent came tumbling.”

374.  Here are to be noticed certain sentences seemingly complex, with a noun clause in apposition with it; but logically they are nothing but simple sentences.  But since they are complex in form, attention is called to them here; for example,—­

     “Alas! it is we ourselves that are getting buried alive under
     this avalanche of earthly impertinences.”

To divide this into two clauses—­(a) It is we ourselves, (b) that are ... impertinences—­would be grammatical; but logically the sentence is, We ourselves are getting ... impertinences, and it is ... that is merely a framework used to effect emphasis.  The sentence shows how it may lose its pronominal force.

Other examples of this construction are,—­

     “It is on the understanding, and not on the sentiment, of a
     nation, that all safe legislation must be based.”

     “Then it is that deliberative Eloquence lays aside the plain
     attire of her daily occupation.”

Exercise.

Tell how each noun clause is used in these sentences:—­

1.  I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.

2.  But the fact is, I was napping.

3.  Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the aspect of the building.

4.  Except by what he could see for himself, he could know nothing.

5.  Whatever he looks upon discloses a second sense.

6.  It will not be pretended that a success in either of these kinds is quite coincident with what is best and inmost in his mind.