Please click on this link for a PowerPoint
This picture is an example of a noun clause reduced. Before we can talk about that, we need to go over the basic definitions of noun clauses first. I will come back to reducing in another lesson.
Why do you want to know noun clauses? What do they do? They are ways to give information and/or opinion.
Let's look at the positions of noun clauses, the rules for commas, the types of noun clauses, the ways to make them sophisticated.
Definitions.
A.Positions.
1. subject – before the verb. Ex: What he did was insane.
2. Object – after the verb. Ex: I think that the weather will be cooler this week.
3.Object of preposition – after a preposition. Ex: I am thinking about what I am going to eat for lunch.
4. Complement – after an adjective. Ex: It is unbelievable how much time people spend on Facebook.
B. Commas -We don’t use commas.
C. Types.
1.From wh questions.
Do you remember the rules? You change the question to a noun clause. To do that, use this form: wh noun/pronoun + verb
Remember the rules: Delete do/does and did.
Where does he live? I don’t know where he liveS.
Where do you live? Ex: I don’t know where you live.
Where did he live? I don’t know where he liveD.
Let’s do a little practice as a review. Change the following wh questions to a noun clause.
1.(How do you play a guitar?) I don’t know ___________________________________________________.
2.(What time is it?) Could you tell me __________________________________?
3.(What did he do wrong?) Do you know ______________________________________?
4.(How many letters are there in the English alphabet?) I don’t remember ___________________________________________.
5.(Who is the mayor of Atlanta?) I don’t know _________________________________.
6. (What is your dog’s name?) I don’t know ___________________________________________________________________.
2.Statements and they are just sentences. In this type, you add the word that and put the noun class in the right place. The weather will be warmer on Thursday. Ex: I think that the weather will be warmer on Thursday.
3.Yes/no questions.
Are you going to go to Wild Animal Safari? Ex: I don’t know if you are going to Wild Animal Safari.
Here you can you 5 different choices:
Ex: I don’t know if you are going to Wild Animal Safari.
Ex: I don’t know whether you are going to Wild Animal Safari.
Ex: I don’t know if you are going to Wild Animal Safari or not.
Ex: I don’t know whether you are going to Wild Animal Safari or not.
Ex: I don’t know whether or not you are going to Wild Animal.
Let’s do a little exercise. Please change the yes/no questions to a noun clause. Don’t forget the rules for do/does and delete apply. Do the first type above.
1.Have you ever gone to an escape room? I don’t know ___________________________________________________________.
2.Do you ever watch shows on Netflix?
I don’t know ____________________________________________________________.
3.Does Saudi Arabia have four seasons?
I don’t know ________________________________________________________________________.
4.Did you go out of town last weekend?
I don’t know ________________________________________________________________________.
D.Adding sophisticated structures.
1.Using vocabulary for noun clauses.
2.Reducing noun clauses.
3.Using other positions for noun clauses.
4.Using more than one noun clause in a sentence.
Let’s look at #1 first, using vocabulary for noun clauses.
For summaries. They could be summaries of videos, an article, a book, etc.
This video showed that/demonstrated that one cat could shove another cat down stairs.
Let’s use showed that/demonstrated that
This video taken from the movie “The Proposal” _______________________________________.
3. This information came from a poll. Here we do the same thing but we can say showed that/indicated that/concluded that
The poll_________________________________
4.Now what can we say from this poll?
5.Now the topic could be about a controversial topic. When we have a controversial topic, we can use different vocabulary: argue/maintain/claim that
Let’s look at some common controversial topics:
So how do we make noun clauses more sophisticated? We start learning vocabulary for verbs since a common position of a noun clause is after a verb.