NOUN CLAUSES

Phrase vs Clause vs Sentence

Phrase Clause Sentence
 More than one word. She sleeps. Complex sentence
 Must have either the S She sleeps soundly.
or the V  Must have both S + V When I went there, the shop
e.g: I ate nasi lemak. was already close.
She sleeps. She made it.
He was waiting for the rain The ship sinks.
to stop.
You might enjoy a massage.
My sister (/) Noun phrase
Eats alone (/) Verb phrase
Buttery popcorn (/)
I saw the dog running towards
the car.
Eating an ice cream can be a
good way to cool off.
At the zoo I saw a zebra.

Faris is tall.
Faris kicks the ball.
Functions of Nouns
1. The baby is cute – Subject (S)
2. Faris is a prefect – Subject Complement (SC)
3. Danny hates the prefect – Object (DO)
4. I jumped over the fence – Object of a preposition (OP)

Noun Clause Markers

Question words how, what, when, where, which, who, whom,
whose, why
Conjunctions if, that, whether
Words ending with -ever whatever, whoever, wherever, whomever

See how a noun/noun phrase can be changed to a noun clause

(What I had for breakfast) | gave me heartburn. (S)
It gave me heartburn.
S V O
1. I don’t know (why she dislikes me.) (DO)
I don’t know it.
S V O
2. They now understand (they should not cheat in test). (DO)

3. Her excuse for being late was (that she forgot to set her alarm).(SC)
4. The teacher will give a prize to (whichever team scores the highest). (OP)