Abstract

Bruce Mitchell has observed that “It is not always possible to say with certainty whether clauses introduced by words such as þœr, þa, and þonne are principal or subordinate. The problem arises more often in the poetry, where the element order is a less certain guide than it is in the prose.” In prose the feature of the element order that usually sorts out clause-initial adverbs from conjunctions is the position of the finite verb. When the finite verb immediately follows a clause-initial þœr, þa, or þonne, the initial word usually makes better sense as an adverb than as a conjunction. When one or more words intervene between the clause-initial word and the finite verb, the þœr, þa, or þonne often makes better sense as a conjunction, and S. O. Andrew therefore termed this “the conjunctive word order.” Elisabeth Traugott concurs with Mitchell's reservations about element order, writing that while differences in word order after these initial words “can often be used to distinguish a subordinate clause introduced by a conjunction from a main clause introduced by an adverb, … the distinction was never rigid, and can be regarded only as a tendency. … It certainly cannot be used as a sure test of main vs. subordinate clause status.”.