NOUN CLAUSES

Unit 9
 Noun Clauses

• Review:
– Is a noun clause a dependent clause or an independent clause?

– What part of speech does a noun clause replace?

– What part of a sentence might a noun clause replace?

 Introduction

• Clause: A group of words containing a subject and a verb

– Independent Clause or Main Clause is a complete sentence. It
contains the main subject and verb of a sentence.

Example:
Sue lives in Tokyo
Where does Sue live?
 Introduction

– A dependent clause or subordinate clause is not a complete

sentence

Example:
where Sue lives

How about this:

I know where Sue lives.

 Noun Clause

• What is a noun clause? It is, of course, used as a noun in a sentence,

acting mainly as a subject or an object. Look at the following examples:

1. I don’t know what they are doing now.

2. How you want to do the work will affect your future.
3. Tell me whether you like it or not.
4. Did you know that Peter was going to study abroad ?
5. That one and one are two is very easy, even for a child.
 Noun Clause

Noun clauses begin with question words,whether or

if, or that
 Noun clauses with Wh-Words

Examples:

They wanted to know who I was.

They asked me where I was born.
She asked me why I am here.
The state department wanted to know when I would be leaving.
The police wanted to know who I was working for.
 Another one:

• Example: Who I was was important to them.

What?!?!?!
• Yes, that grammar is correct! Ask yourself what
is the…
– Subject of this sentence?
– Verb of this sentence?
– Object of this sentence?
 Tricky!

• Wh-Question: What did we learn yesterday?

• Answer with noun clause: What we learned yesterday was the
noun clause.

• What differences do you notice?

• Do not use the helping verb do/did in the noun clause.
• Do not use “question order” in the noun clause.
• Pay attention to the verb tense in the noun clause!
• Noun clauses as subjects need a singular verb.
 Singular verbs like…

• What they agreed on was to study together.

• Where Opal and Casey live is a great neighborhood.
• What my students tell me sometimes surprises me.

• The verb inside the noun clause matches the noun clause
subject.
• The main verb, if the noun clause is a subject, is singular (even
if the subject inside the noun clause is plural!)
 Noun clauses can follow different verbs
(and sometimes an indirect object or a preposition):

• Wh-Question: Where is our classroom?

• Answers:
– I don’t know where our classroom is.
– I wonder where our classroom is.
– She told me where our classroom is.
– Here is the information about where our
classroom is.
 Some more Wh- examples…

• Wh- Question: Whose pen is this?

• Answer: I don’t know whose pen this is.

• Wh-Question: Who is his teacher?

• Answer: I don’t know who his teacher is.
 Noun Clauses with If / Whether

• Will she come?

– I don’t know whether she will come.
– I don’t know if she will come
– I wonder whether or not she will come
– I wonder whether she will come or not
– I wonder if she will come or not
– Whether she comes or not is unimportant to me
 Noun Clauses with If / Whether

• Does he need help?

– I wonder whether he needs help
– I wonder if he needs help
 Question words followed by Infinitives

Question words (when, where, how, who, whom, whose,

what, which, and whether) may be followed by an infinitive.
Example:
– I don’t know what I should do or I don’t know what to do.
– Please tell me how I can get to the bus station or please tell me
how to get to the bus station
– Jim told us where we could find it or Jim told us where to find
it.
 Noun Clauses with THAT.

• Use that after certain verbs to express feelings, thoughts, and

opinions.
• It is optional and not usually necessary.
• NOTE: When this kind of noun clause is the subject of the
sentence, “that” cannot be omitted.
 Examples

• I think that writing an essay is different from writing a

paragraph.
• I know writing an essay is different from writing a
paragraph.
• That writing an essay is different from writing a paragraph
is clear.
 Special “that” clauses: Type 1

• Type 1: Person + Be + Adj + that clause

• Examples:
• I am happy that you got a good grade on the test.
• The students are excited that next weekend is a three-day
weekend.
 Special “that clause” #2

• Type 2: It + Be + Adj + that clause

• Examples:
• It is fascinating that you are all so interested in learning
about how to write essays.
• It is disappointing that the quarter is so short and we have
so much to do.
 Special “that clause” #3

• That clause as subject – possible but not usually used.

The last option is the most common.
• Examples:
• That writing essays is different from writing paragraphs is clear.
• The fact that writing essays is different from writing paragraphs is clear.
• It is a fact that writing essays is different from writing paragraphs.
 Don’t forget these things!

• A noun clause is a dependent clause.

• A noun clause can replace a subject or a verb in a
sentence.
• Some noun clauses have special rules.
 … and don’t forget this!

• Don’t use “question” word order in a noun clause.

• Don’t use do, does, did in the noun clause if they are a
helping verb. Do use them if they’re the main verbs:
– Q: What did she do?
– A: I don’t know what she did.
– NO: I don’t know what did she do.
– NO: I don’t know what she did do.
 Exercise
Change each question in parentheses to a noun
clause.
1. (Where do you live?) Please tell me …………………..

2. (Where did she go?) ………………….. Is none of your business

3. (Whose pen is this?) Do you know ……………………….?

4. (Is the financial report ready?) Let me know if ….

5. (Will it be ready tomorrow?) Let me know if

6. (Did they get my massage?) Please check whether

 Exercise
1. Bracewell told the people … effect a drought would have on the Great
Plains.
a. that b. how c. what d. then

2. The thieves knew precisely … the collection of priceless jewels was

hidden.
a. where b. then c. Who d. What

3. … adults come to night classes eager to learn has been

the experience of most adult-education teachers.
a. that b. when c. where d. which
 Exercise
4. … Freud and Marx were motivated primarily by compassionate concern for
suffering humanity is elaborated upon in Fromm’s biography
a. Both are b. What both c. Both d. That both

5. The study of how people use and perceive their social and personal space
be called proxemics.

6. The problem facing most tourist is … among so many possibilities.

a. what should they see b. what they should see
c. should they see what d. they should see what