206 Partn1 ISentenceStructure
Review
Thesearetheimportantpointscoveredinthischapter.
1.Anounclauseis a dependentclausethatactslikea noun.
,-NOUN-, I NOUNCLAUSE I
Johnaskeda question.Johnaskedwhichchapterstheexamwouldcover.- Anounclausecanactasa subject,anobject,ora subjectcomplement.That
clausescanalsofollowcertainadjectivesandnouns.Themostcommon
positionofa nounclauseis aftertheverbofthemain(independent)clause.
3.Startinga sentencewitha nounclauseis awkward.Englishspeakers
usuallyrewritethesesentencessothattheybeginwithitandendwiththe
nounclause.
Thattheprofessorcanceledtheexamsurprisedus.
Itsurprisedusthattheprofessorcanceledtheexam.Whethertheprofessorwillrescheduletheexamis uncertain.Itis uncertainwhethertheprofessorwillrescheduletheexam.- Passivevoiceis oftenusedinthesekindsofsentences,especiallyin
academicwriting.
ItwasoncebelievedbymanythatEarthwasflat. - Whena nounclausereportswhatsomeoneaskedorsaid,youmustfollow
thesequenceoftensesrulesforreportedspeech.
6.Followingverbsandadjectivesindicatingurgency,advisability,necessity,
anddesirability,usethebaseformoftheverbinthenounclause.Thiskind
ofnounclauseis calleda subjunctivenounclause.
Itisnecessarythatstudentsbeontimeforthefinalexam.
7.Nounclausesusestatementwordorderevenwhentheybeginwitha
questionword.Theyalsodonotcontaindo, does,ordidbecausethey
arenotquestions.- Commasarenotusedwithnounclauses.