Verbs controlling wh-clauses

The most common verbs controlling a wh-clause fall into four major semantic domains: mental, speech act, other
communication, and perception. In addition, the relationship verb depend (on) is common in conversation.
By far the most common verb controlling a wh-clahse is know in conversation. Although it can be used to report
what a speaker knows, it is even more commonly used to report what the speaker does not know:
I know what she said. (cow)

The most common verbs controlling a complement wh-clause by

semantic domain and register; occurrences per million words

I don't know what's happening. ( c o w )

I don't know where they are. ( c o w )

The verb know is also common in dialog in fiction and news:

I don't know how people are going to get through the winter. (NEWS)

The verb see is also notably common with wh-clauses in conversation. Sometimes it is used for literal perceptions
of seeing:,

I couldn’t see what they were doing.

More commonly, however, it is used metaphorically to mean 'find out':

I'll what cash I've got left. ( c o w )
So we'll see what transpires this time. ( c o w )
The expression see what I/you mean is particularly common in conversation:
I can see what you mean. ( c o w )
Do you see what I mean? (CONV)

Other mental verbs, such as wonder, think (about/of), remember, and understand are relatively common with wh-
clauses in both conversation and fiction:

I could never remember how to do them. (cow)

You should wonder why she wants me around. (FICT)
Sethe smiled just thinking about what the word could mean. (FICT)

Speech act verbs are also relatively common with wh-clauses in conversation and
fiction:

Did you @ him what Greg said about your arms? (cow)
I am asking what you intend to do about this man. (FICT)

Although these are the most common verbs with wh-clauses, it is important to realize that wh-clauses can occur
with almost any transitive verb as a nominal relative clause. For example:

The birds gathered round to eat what was left. (FICT)

She also what they call oratory. (FICT)
He dreaded what he might have to do. (FICT~)
And I respect what she says. (cow)

Wh-clauses are generally less common in academic prose. However, there are
some mental and communication verbs that are particularly useful with whclauses
in academic prose. These verbs deal with discovery and description:

mental verbs:
We need to discover what they believe about AIDS. (ACAD)
Thus the programmer can establish when a transput operation is complete. (ACAD~)

communication verbs:

He describes how the National Committee is organized. (ACAD)

An evaluation can also indicate what are likely outcomes. (ACAD~)