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The news that Dr. Blare had refused to join the Antarctic expedi-
tion was sensational. We are not prepared to discuss the question 
who will chair the next session of the Surgical Society. 
The nominal appositive clauses can be tested by transforming them 
into the corresponding clauses of primary nominal positions 
through the omission of the noun-antecedent or translating it into a 
predicative complement. Cf.: 
... → That Dr. Blare had refused to join the Antarctic expedition 
was sensational. —» That Dr. Blare had refused to join the Antarc-
tic expedition was sensational news. 
The characteristic antecedents of adverbial apposition are abstract 
names of adverbial relations, such as time, moment, place, condi-
tion, purpose, etc. Cf.: 
We saw him at the moment he was opening the door of his Cadil-
lac. They did it with the purpose that no one else might share the 
responsibility for the outcome of the venture. 

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320
As is seen from the examples, these appositive clauses serve a 
mixed or double function, i. e. a function constituting a mixture of 
nominal and adverbial properties. They may be tested by trans-
forming them into the corresponding adverbial clauses through the 
omission of the noun-antecedent and, if necessary, the introduction 
of conjunctive adverbialisers. Cf.: 
... → We saw him as he was opening the door of his Cadillac. ... → 
They did it so that no one else might share the responsibility for the 
outcome of the venture. 
Appositive clauses of pronominal relation refer to an antecedent 
expressed by an indefinite or demonstrative pronoun. The con-
structions serve as informatively limiting and attention-focusing 
means in contrast to the parallel non-appositive constructions. Cf.: 
I couldn't agree with all that she was saying in her irritation. → I 
couldn't agree with what she was saying in her irritation. (Limita-
tion is expressed.) That which did strike us was the inspector's ut-
ter ignorance of the details of the case. → What did strike us was 
the inspector's utter ignorance of the details of the case. (The utter-
ances are practically equivalent, the one with a clausal apposition 
being somewhat more intense in its delimitation of the desired fo-
cus of attention.) 
Appositive clauses of anticipatory relation are used in construc-
tions with the anticipatory pronoun (namely, the anticipatory it, oc-
casionally the demonstratives this, that). There are two varieties of 
these constructions — subjective and objective. The subjective 
clausal apposition is by far the basic one, both in terms of occur-
rence (it affects all the notional verbs of the vocabulary, not only 
transitive) and functional range (it possesses a universal sentence-
transforming force). Thus, the objective anticipatory apposition is 
always interchangeable with the subjective anticipatory apposition, 
but not vice versa. Cf.: 
I would consider it (this) a personal offence if they didn't accept the 
forwarded invitation. → It would be a personal offence (to me) if 
they didn't accept the forwarded invitation. You may depend on it 
that the letters won't be left unanswered. → It may be depended on 
that the letters won't be left unanswered. 

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321
The anticipatory appositive constructions, as is widely known, con-
stitute one of the most peculiar typological features of English syn-
tax. Viewed as part of the general appositive clausal system here 
presented, it is quite clear that the exposure of their appositive na-
ture does not at all contradict their anticipatory interpretation, nor 
does it mar or diminish their "idiomatically English" property so 
emphatically pointed out in grammar books. 
The unique role of the subjective anticipatory appositive construc-
tion, as has been stated elsewhere, consists in the fact that it is used 
as a universal means of rheme identification in the actual division 
of the sentence.