noun clause

A noun clause is a clause which does the work of a noun in a sentence. It is a group of words containing a subject and a finite verb of its own.

Usually noun clauses begin with that, what, where, when, who, whom, which, whose, how, why, whether, etc.

Examples:

* He said that he would not come.
* We were all curious to know what he had done.
* Nobody knows when the registration will begin.
* We all wanted to find out who the winner was.
* Whom they were in contact with on the day of the robbery is of great interest to the police.
* Jane is not sure which university she should apply for.
* The judges had a hard time deciding whose painting was the best.
* How the baby fell from the window is a mystery.
* They asked the boy why he had hit his classmate.
* Whether you like it or not is not the issue.

Uses of Noun Clauses

Noun Clauses can be used in the following ways:

a. As the subject of a verb
Why she kept on crying

puzzled
every one.

noun clause
main verb

b. As the direct object
Nobody knows how he got involved in gangland activities


verb


noun clause

c. As the complement of the verb "to be"

What we are worried about is that he may have another heart attack.

The question is why they could escape through the front door when there were so many guards there.

A Note to Students:

There are some common errors among many students when they use noun clauses in sentences. Here are some of the errors:

a) Inversion structure within the noun clause

û: Where is the place is still not clear.

In the above example, the inversion structure is used in which the subject (the place) is preceded by a verb (is). Mistakes like this reflect the tendency of students to mistake interrogative words like where, when, why, how, etc. when used in noun clauses for those used in questions, as in "Where is the wallet?".

It should therefore be noted that the structural components of a noun clause are "Subject + Finite Verb" as in :

What you do is terrible.

However, there is an exception to the rule. One should note that a noun clause that begins with what can also be immediately followed by a finite verb, without having a subject, as in the following:

Ö : What has been discussed in the meeting will remain a secret.

b) No main verb in the sentence

Since noun clauses very often serve to emphasize a particular idea in a sentence, many students tend to think that their function is to emphasize only and that there are no strict rules to follow when using them. This is a misconception. Look at the following sentence:

û: What they like luxury goods.

In the above sentence, the student may have thought that "like" may function as the main verb of the sentence. Since "They like luxury goods" is a complete sentence, and that "what" is only an emphasizer, so the student may think that the sentence is correct. In this case, the student has forgotten that the structural components of a noun clause are "Subject + Finite Verb" (as in "What they say"), and mistaken the finite verb "like" within the noun clause as the main verb of the whole sentence, thereby producing a sentence that does not have a main verb.

It should be noted that all these interrogatives like why, who, when, how, whether...etc, although they serve as emphasizers, begin a clause whose structural components are subject and verb. This means that the finite verb inside the clause, in this case the verb "like", cannot function as the main verb of a sentence. In the following sentence, "is" is the main verb of the sentence and "like" is the finite verb within the noun clause.

Ö: What they like is luxury goods.

c) Mistaking where, when, why, how, etc. for the relative pronoun "which".

Ö: I live in a building which has 40 storeys .

û: I live in a building where has 40 storeys.

If you really want to use "where" instead of "which" in the above sentence, follow the structural rule of noun clause : "Subject + finite verb":

Ö: I live in a building where there are 40 storeys.

Some students see "which" and "where" as equivalent when they are used as relative pronouns. Yet, "which" and "where" bear similar meaning and require different structural components when they are used as relative pronouns.