28. Noun clauses (명사절)
Independent clause is a complete sentence. It contains
the main subject and verb of a sentence. (main clause)
Dependent clause is not a complete sentence. It must
be connected to an independent clause.
Noun clauses act as nouns in a sentence.
A noun is used as a subject or an object.
His attitude was wrong. We noticed his attitude.
What he did was wrong We noticed what he did.
We heard about his behavior.
We heard about what he did.
Noun clauses are introduced in three ways.
By the word that or { } (omitted that)
By question words: when, where, why, how, who,
whom, what, which, whose.
By alternative words: whether, if
Noun clauses beginning with That
That the world is round is a fact. (subject)
With it:
It is a fact that the world is round.
(true, surprising, strange, obvious, apparent, too bad, unfortunate,
a shame, a pity)
We know (that) the world is round. (object)
(agree, believe, decide, expect, feel, guess, hope, know, learn,
notice, observe, prove, realize, suppose, teach)
We often omit that from a noun clause, especially when we speak.
I think that it’s raining. — I think it’s raining.
I hope that you don’t get wet. __ I hope you don’t get wet.
In this case we cannot omit the word that.
That prices are going up is clear.
When the introductory verb is in the present tense, the verb in the noun clause can be any tense.
I believe he’s here (now).
I believe he’ll be here (in a few minutes).
I believe he was here (a few minutes ago).
In conversation: to avoid repeating the that clause after verbs such as
think, believe, and hope.
Positive verb+so
Is Kay here today? I think so.(I think that Kay is here.) I believe so,
I guess so, I hope so.
Nagative verb+so
Has the wind stopped?
I don’t believe so. (I don’t believe that the wind has stopped.)
I don’t think so.
Positive verb+not
Are we having dinner soon. I’m afraid not (I want us to have dinner soon, but we are not going to.)
I guess not, I hope not.
29. noun clauses (2)
Noun clauses beginning with question words
Noun clauses may also begin with wh-words.
When a question is included within a statement, it loses question punctuation and question word order.
Main clause is question: Can you tell me where the post office is?
Main clause is a statement: I wonder where the post office is.
Direct question Indirect question
What are they doing? I don’t know what they are doing
Where does Kay live? I can’t remember where Kay lives.
Why did she say that? I couldn’t understand why she said that.
When do they arrive? Do you know when they arrive?
Whose book is that? I wonder whose book that is.
Who lives there? Don’t you know who lives there?
Who are those men? I don’t know who those men are.
What happened? Please tell me what happened
What did he say? What he said surprised me.
Don’t use that with a question word in an included clause.
Incorrect: Kay told me that how terrible his boss was.
A noun clause subject takes a singular verb.
What should we do? What we should do is obvious.
We often use indirect questions to ask politely for information.
Direct question: What time does the bus leave?
Indirect question: Can you tell me what time the bus leaves?
Noun clauses beginning with if or whether
When a yes/no question is changed to a noun clause, if or whether is used to introduce the clause.
Yes/no question main clause noun clause
Did Kay see you? Do you know if/ whether Kay saw you (or not)
Are they angry? I don’t know if/ whether they’re angry (or not)
Is she at home? I wonder if/ whether she’s at home (or not)
They do not follow question word order. Instead, they use statement word order
.
Correct: Do you know if this is the director’s office?
In correct: Do you know is this the director’s office?
We can also put or not immediately after whether, but not after if.
Correct: whether she comes or not is unimportant to me.
I don’t know whether or not he is here.
Incorrect: I don’t know if or not he is here.
Question words followed by infinitives
When, where, how, who, whom, whose, what, which, and whether
may be followed by an infinitive. (not why, if)
I don’t know what I should do. I don’t know what to do.
Kay told us where we could find it. Kay told us where to find it.
Please tell me how I can get to the bus station.
Please tell me how to get to the bus station.
Mrs. Lee can’t decide whether she should go or stay home.
Mrs. Lee can’t decide whether to go or (to) stay home.