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Noun Clauses

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?. Function of noun clauses. Usually used to: express something we do not know express uncertainty

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Noun Clauses

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  1. 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?

  2. Function of noun clauses • Usually used to: • express something we do not know • express uncertainty • ask politely for information

  3. Remember: • The noun clause acts like a noun: it’s a subject or an object in a sentence. • The noun clause, like other dependent clauses, must have a subject and a verb. This is not the “main” subject or the “main” verb of the sentence. • Example: They wanted to know who I was. • Subject of this sentence? • Verb of this sentence? • Object of this sentence?

  4. 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.

  5. 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?

  6. 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 notuse the helping verb do/did in the noun clause. • Do notuse “question order” in the noun clause. • Pay attention to the verb tense in the noun clause! • Noun clauses as subjects need a singular verb.

  7. 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!)

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. Noun Clauses with If / Whether • These two words mean the same thing. • “Whether” is more formal. • Usually follow verbs of mental activity. • Used in polite questions.

  11. Examples: • I don’t know if the test on Monday will be hard. • I don’t know whether the test on Monday will be tricky. • I wonder if we will have to write an essay on Monday? • I don’t know if Marcie would give us a long test like that at this point in the quarter.

  12. Noun Clauses with THAT. • Use that after certain verbs to express feelings, thoughts, and opinions. (see p. 253 of handout for list of verbs) • It is optional and not usually necessary. • NOTE: When this kind of noun clause is the subject of the sentence, “that” cannot be omitted.

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. 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.

  18. … 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.

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