Noun Clauses: Begining with Question Word, Whether or If, and What

Noun Clauses

A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a verb.

An independent clause (or main clause) is a complete sentence. It contains the main subject and verb of sentence.

A dependent clause (or subordinate clause) is not complete sentence. It must be connected to an independent clause.

A noun phrase is used as subject or an object.

A noun clause is used as a subject or an object. In other words, a noun clause is used in the some ways as a noun phrase.

Noun clauses perform the same functions in sentences that nouns do:

1.      A noun clause can be a subject of a verb.

What Billy did shocked his friends.

2.      A noun clause can be an object of a verb.

Billy’s friends didn’t know that he couldn’t swim.

3.      A noun clause can be a subject compliment.

Billy’s mistake was that he refused to take lessons.

4.      A noun clause can be an object of a preposition.

Marry is not responsible for what Billy did.

5.      A noun clause can be an adjective complement.

Everybody is sad that Billy drowned.

Functions of Nouns Clauses that is:

üNoun clause as Subject of a sentence.

How he becomes so rich makes people curious.

  Noun clause as Object of a transitive verb.

I know what you mean.

Verb can be followed by a noun phrase, inn this case followed by phrase “that-clause”, among others:

Admit Realize Announce Recommend Believe Remember Deny Expect Say See Forget Stipulate

Hear Suggest Inform Suppose Know Think Promise Understand Propose wish

Ø  Noun clauses as Object of a preposition

Be careful of what you’re doing.

Ø  Noun clause as Complement

The good news is that the culprit has been put into the jail

Ø  Noun clause as Noun in apposition

The idea that people can live without oxygen is unreasonable.

NOUN CLAUSES BEGINNING WITH A QUESTION WORD

1.      Question Where does she live? What did he say? When do they arrive?	1.      Noun Clause  (a)    I do not know where she lives  (b)   I couldn’t hear what he said  (c)    Do you know when they arrived	In (a): where she lives is the object of the verb know, in a noun clause, the subject precedes the verb. Do not use question word order in a noun clause. Notice: does, did, and do are used in questions but not in noun clauses. See Appendix unit B for more information about question words and question forms.
Who lives there? What happened? Who is at the door?	(d)   I do not know who lives there  (e)    Please tell me what happened  (f)    I wonder who is at the door	In (d): the word order is the same in both the question and the noun clause because who is the subject In both.
Who is she? Who are those men? Whose is that?	(g)   I do not know who she is  (h)   I do not know who those men are  (i)     I wonder whose home that is	In (g):  she is the subject of the question, so it is placed in front of the verb be in the noun clause.
What did he say? What should they do?	(j)     What she said surprised me.  (k)   What they should do is obvious.	In (j): what she said is the subject of the sentence, Notice: in (k): a noun clause subject takes a singular verb.

NOUN CLAUSES BEGINNING WITH WHETHER OR IF

Yes/no question: Will she come? Does he need help?	Noun Clause  a.       I don’t know whether she will come. I don’t know if she will come.  b.      I wonder whether he needs help. I wonder if he needs help.	When a yes/no question is changed to a noun clause, whether or if is used to introduce the clause. NOTE: whether is more acceptable in formal English, but if is quite commonly used, especially in speaking.
	c.       I wonder whether or not she will come.  d.      I wonder whether she will come or not.  e.       I wonder if she will come or not.	In (c), (d), and (e): notice the patterns when or not is used.
	Whether she comes or not is unimportant to me.	In (f): Notice that the noun clause is the subject position.

NOUN CLAUSES BEGINNING WITH THAT

1.      Statement: He is a good actor The world is around	1.      Noun Clause  a.      I think that he is a good actor.  b.      I think he is good actor.  c.       We know (that) the world is around.	In (a): that he is a good actor in a noun clause, it is used the object of the verb think. The word that, when it introduces a noun clause, has no meaning in itself. It simply marks the beginning of the clause. Frequently it is omitted, as in (b), especially in speaking if used in speaking, it is unstressed.
She doesn’t understand spoken English	a.       That she doesn’t understand spoken English is obvious.  b.      It is obvious (that) she doesn’t understand spoken English.  c.       That world is round is a fact.  d.      It is a fact that the world is round.	In (d): The noun clauses (That she doesn’t understand spoken English) is the subject of the sentence. The word that is omitted when it introduces a noun clause used as the subject of a sentence, as in (d), and (f) more commonly, the word it functions as the subject and the noun clause is placed as the end of the sentence, as in (e) and (g).