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17.3.4.A special case: clauses referring to a proposition
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Clauses referring to a proposition serve to specify the content of a head noun. The propositional clause is obligatorily introduced by a complementizer and does not contain a gap. Propositional clauses may be restrictive or non-restrictive. If they are restrictive, propositional clauses function as complements of the head noun and will be treated as such in Section 16.3. This section will therefore only deal with non-restrictive propositional clauses such as (548).

548
a. Zijn opmerking, [dat verder gaan zinloos was], veroorzaakte verwarring.
  his remark that further go useless was caused confusion
  'His remark, that it was useless to go on, caused confusion.'
b. De conclusie, [dat de ramp onvermijdelijk was], leek voorbarig.
  this conclusion that the disaster inescapable was seemed premature
  'The conclusion, that the disaster was inescapable, seemed premature.'
c. Het bericht, [dat Jan ernstig ziek was], schokte ons zeer.
  the message that Jan seriously ill was shocked us very
  'The message, that Jan was ill, shocked us very much.'
d. Deze mededeling, [dat de reis was afgezegd], kwam onverwacht.
  this announcement that the trip was cancelled came unexpectedly
e. Naar onze mening, [dat het plan te riskant is], werd niet geluisterd.
  to our opinion that the plan too risky is was not listened
  'Our opinion, that the plan is too risky, was not taken into account.'

As in the case of propositional complement clauses, non-restrictive propositional clauses only follow a noun denoting a proposition. As can be seen from the examples in (548), the antecedent of non-restrictive clauses is typically definite. This is to be expected, since the use of a non-restrictive modifier suggests that the message, announcement, etc. conveying the proposition can be regarded as known to the addressee, or at least identifiable from the context. However, it is also possible for the head to be indefinite. This happens especially when there is uncertainty about the correctness of the specified content. In the constructions in (549) this uncertainty is expressed by the (obligatory) use of the modal zoudenwould and the use of the conjunction als instead of dat.

549
a. Een nog onbevestigd bericht, [als zouden de rebellen de hoofdstad hebben ingenomen], heeft ons vannacht bereikt.
  a yet unconfirmed message comp should the rebels the capital have prt.-taken has us tonight reached
  'An as yet unconfirmed message, to the effect that the rebels have taken the capital, has reached us tonight.'
b. Het gerucht, [als zou er informatie achtergehouden zijn], bleek later op waarheid berusten.
  the rumors comp would there information withheld be proved later on truth to based
  'The rumor, to the effect that information had been withheld, proved true later.'
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