I know when people use the phrase "that awkward moment when", it is clearly a sentence fragment. What exactly is it called though? A dependent clause? A noun clause? I have no idea.
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2It’s not a clause at all—it’s just a noun phrase, modified by a relative clause. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 24 '14 at 17:59
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1It is, as you stated, a sentence fragment. You could call it an intentional fragment. – JLG Jul 24 '14 at 19:16
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I think it is just elliptical. The ubiquitous 'meme' phrase really intends '[We all know] that awkward moment when X happens'. In that context it is not dependent, it is just the object of the sentence, the thing we all know. As such it is a (free) relative clause. – Jon Jay Obermark Aug 29 '14 at 01:49
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In fact, the structure would be made up of the following:
That awkward moment + when...
Where 'when' is a relative pronoun, and "when..." is a relative clause. The first part is just a noun phrase.
The completed "that awkward moment when blah blah blah" is just a noun phrase modified by a relative clause.
Karl
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