7.82 other verbs used with reported clauses

There are a few verbs which do not refer to saying, thinking, or learning but which are followed by 'that'-clauses because they refer to actions which relate to facts: for example, checking facts or proving facts.

• He checked that both rear doors were safely shut.
• Research with animals shows that males will mother an infant as well as any female.

Here is a list of verbs which are not verbs of speech or thought but can be followed by a 'that'-clause:

• arrange, check, demonstrate, determine, ensure, indicate, pretend, prove, require, reveal, show

Note that 'determine' can also be a verb of thought and 'reveal' can also be a verb of speech. See paragraphs 7.27, 7.35, and 7.45.

'Arrange' and 'require' are used with a 'that'-clause containing a modal or a subjunctive. 'Arrange' can also be used with a 'to'-infinitive clause.

• The King arranged that I should have the Order of Merit.
• They'd arranged to leave at four o'clock.

'Demonstrate', 'prove', 'reveal', and 'show' can also be followed by a clause beginning with a 'wh'-word which refers to a circumstance involved in a fact.

• The woman took the gun and showed how the cylinder slotted into the barrel.

'Prove', 'require', and 'show' can also be used in the passive followed by a 'to'-infinitive clause.

• No place on earth can be shown to be safe.

If you want to mention another person involved in these actions, you can put an object after 'show', use 'to' after 'demonstrate', 'indicate', 'prove', and 'reveal', and use 'with' after 'arrange' and 'check'.

• This attitude of the children showed me that watching violence can lower a child's standards of behaviour.
• The way my eyelids had closed proved to me that I was almost as suggestible as Patricia.
• She arranged with the principal of her school to take the necessary time off.

7.83

If you want to say that something happens, that something is the case, or that something becomes known, you can use a 'that'-clause after 'happen', 'transpire', or 'emerge'. The subject of the reporting clause is impersonal 'it'.

• It often happens that a mother asks for advice and does not get it.
• It just happened that he had a client who rather liked that sort of thing.
• It transpired that there was not a word of truth in the letter.
• It emerged that, during the afternoon, she had gone home unwell.

Note that the 'that'-clause must be introduced by 'that'.