This chapter provides an exhaustive discussion of dependent clauses functioning as arguments or complementives. Section 5.1 starts with finite argument clauses; we will consider in detail subject, direct object, and prepositional clauses.

Section 5.1 also includes a discussion of fragment clauses and wh-extraction. A typical example of fragment clauses is given in (2a), in which the wh-word who is interpreted in the same way as the embedded clause in Ik weet niet wie Jan gisteren heeft bezocht'I do not know who Jan has visited yesterday.' Wh-extraction is illustrated in (2b) by means of wh-movement of the direct object of the complement clause; the trace ti indicates the normal position of the direct object.

Section 5.2 discusses three types of formally different types of infinitival clauses: Om + te-infinitivals, te-infinitivals and bare infinitivals. Some typical examples are given in (3), which typically have an implicit (phonetically empty) subject pronoun, normally represented as PRO; an important issue will be what the conditions on the interpretation of PRO are (control theory).

Section 5.2 also discusses subject raising and accusativus-cum-infinitivo infinitivals such as (4). We will give reasons for assuming that the nominative subject in (4a) is extracted from the infinitival clause and that the subject of the infinitival clause in (4b) functions as the subject of the infinitival clause but is assigned accusative case by the matrix verb horen'to hear'.

Section 5.3 concludes with a discussion of complementives, that is, clauses that function as secondary predicates; examples that are sometimes (perhaps incorrectly) analyzed as involving complementive clauses are the copular constructions in (5).