Clauses
CLAUSE
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. Some clauses are dependent: they can't stand alone and need an independent clause, or sentence, to support them.
These dependent clauses can be used in three ways: as adjectives, as adverbs and as nouns. This article focuses on noun clauses.
NOUN CLAUSE
A noun clause is a dependent clause that acts as a noun.
Noun clauses most often begin with the subordinating conjunction that. Other words that may begin a noun clause are if, how, what, whatever, when, where, whether,which, who, whoever, whom and why.Since a noun clause acts as a noun, it can do anything that a noun can do. A noun clause can be a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, an object of a preposition, a subject complement, an object complement or an appositive.
Examples:
Whatever you decide is fine with me.
(subject of the verb is)
I could see by your bouncy personality that you'd enjoy bungee jumping.
(direct object of the verb see)
We will give whoever drops by a free Yogalates lesson.
(indirect object of the verb phrase will give)
Lacey talked at length about how she had won the perogy-eating contest.
(object of the preposition about)
Five basic clause patterns
On this page we’ll look at sentences that consist of just one clause (see simple sentence) and in the process find out more about what a clause actually is. We’ll do this by looking at sentences no more than four words long.
All the sample sentences are about elephants. If you want to try out the ideas and sentence patterns in the chapter, think of a topic of your own as the basis for parallel sentences. Choose a plural concrete noun(one that refers to a person, place, or thing) – like books, trains, or teachers. Then use it to construct sentences with the same patterns as the elephant ones used as examples.
Subject + verb
The shortest sentence you can make starting with the word elephants consists of two words. For example:
Elephants exist.
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. Some clauses are dependent: they can't stand alone and need an independent clause, or sentence, to support them.
These dependent clauses can be used in three ways: as adjectives, as adverbs and as nouns. This article focuses on noun clauses.
NOUN CLAUSE
A noun clause is a dependent clause that acts as a noun.
Noun clauses most often begin with the subordinating conjunction that. Other words that may begin a noun clause are if, how, what, whatever, when, where, whether,which, who, whoever, whom and why.Since a noun clause acts as a noun, it can do anything that a noun can do. A noun clause can be a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, an object of a preposition, a subject complement, an object complement or an appositive.
Examples:
Whatever you decide is fine with me.
(subject of the verb is)
I could see by your bouncy personality that you'd enjoy bungee jumping.
(direct object of the verb see)
We will give whoever drops by a free Yogalates lesson.
(indirect object of the verb phrase will give)
Lacey talked at length about how she had won the perogy-eating contest.
(object of the preposition about)
Five basic clause patterns
On this page we’ll look at sentences that consist of just one clause (see simple sentence) and in the process find out more about what a clause actually is. We’ll do this by looking at sentences no more than four words long.
All the sample sentences are about elephants. If you want to try out the ideas and sentence patterns in the chapter, think of a topic of your own as the basis for parallel sentences. Choose a plural concrete noun(one that refers to a person, place, or thing) – like books, trains, or teachers. Then use it to construct sentences with the same patterns as the elephant ones used as examples.
Subject + verb
The shortest sentence you can make starting with the word elephants consists of two words. For example:
Elephants exist.