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Noun Clauses with Wh- Words and If/Whether

Question Word Noun Clauses

Question: Why did the bus stop?
Noun Clause: Can you tell me why the bus stopped?

Question: Where is the cat?

Noun Clause: I don’t know where the cat is.

Question: What do most customers do?

Noun Clause: People will tell you what most customers do.

Examples: Underline the Wh- word noun clauses.

1. I wonder where the post office is.

2. I don’t know how much the bill is.

3. Can you tell me where I should park?

4. Do you know who the manager is?

*Be careful about the punctuation at the end of the

sentence!

Important: Use statement word order (subject + verb), not

question word order, for noun clauses.
PRACTICE

1. Why do we have this week off?

Do you know __________________________________________

2. What does this word mean?

Please tell me __________________________________________

3. How much does the bill cost?

Can you tell me ________________________________________

Remember!
- Don’t use do, does, did in embedded questions.
Be careful!
- If a question about the subject has the form be + noun, then
the embedded question has the form noun + be.

Who is the teacher? → Do you know who the teacher is?

Whether or If Noun Clauses
This kind starts from a Yes/No question:

Question:
Did they deliver the pizza?

Noun Clause:
Do you know whether they delivered the pizza?
Do you know whether or not they delivered the pizza?
Do you know whether they delivered the pizza or not?
Do you know if they delivered the pizza?
Do you know if they delivered the pizza or not?

Change these yes/no questions to noun clauses within

another sentence:

Example:
Do Sean and David know each other?
I’m not sure if/whether Sean and David know each other.

1. Is he coming to the party?

2. Will my flight leave on time?

Note 1: Whether is more formal than if

Note 2: After a preposition, ONLY use whether, not if:

WRONG: I often think about if I should change my major.

CORRECT: I often think about whether I should change my
major.
PRACTICE

1. Is college necessary to determine who is the most

intelligent?
2. Is college useful for training people for the workplace?
3. Is college a place to develop critical thinking?
4. Is college a place where people learn things they cannot
learn anywhere else?
5. What levels of education teach socialization skills?
6. Do you think everyone should be able to go to college?
7. Is the college entrance system in your country fair?
8. In your country, what percentage of high school graduates
go to college?

Note 3: DO NOT use if when the noun clause is a SUBJECT or

SUBJECT COMPLEMENT (after BE verb).

WRONG: If he’s home isn’t obvious.

CORRECT: Whether he’s home isn’t obvious.

WRONG: The question is if the work will be done on time.

 CORRECT: The question is whether the work will be done
on time.