Noun Clauses with Question Words

Lesson 3 Noun Clauses with Question Words

 

   Essential Question

 

How can you use question words – and the noun clauses that contain their answers – to anticipate the kinds of information your readers will need and want to know?

 

 Grammar in the World

 What Do I Know?

Use the interactive below to find out how much you already know about noun clauses with question words.  In the exercise below, read each sentence, then drag and drop the correct word into the blank to complete each sentence: 

 

 Building Blocks

Grammar is a complex system and structure of language. Mizzou Academy Grammar Lab spotlights one skill (or block) at a time, but it’s often helpful to see how a skill works together with other, related blocks to build the language structure as a whole. You may find the following resource topics helpful as context for this lesson:

• Nouns
• Adjective Clauses with Relative Pronouns
• Dependent Clauses
• Complex Sentences

 

 Learn About Noun Clauses with Question Words

How did you do on the “What Do I Know?” activity above?  We hope you were able to guess the missing words without too much difficulty, and if you could, there’s a reason for that! It’s because the information that follows each blank space answers one of the five core question words in the English language: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? These question words handily introduce their own answers in the form of a noun clause.

 

Let’s Review: 

A noun clause is a dependent clause (meaning that it has its own subject and verb, but it cannot stand alone as a complete sentence) that functions as a single noun or pronoun. 

Want to test it? Try replacing any of the noun clauses in any sentence from the “What Do I Know Activity” with one of the generic pronouns “this” or “that,” which could stand in for any noun. 

• I know that.
• Marissa can’t decide that.
• For the life of me I can’t understand this.
• I can’t give my landlord official notice until the movers tell me this.
• Living well is less about this … and more about that.
• I can’t decide this. 

 

See what I mean? They’re still complete sentences because the whole noun clause functions like one noun. If you ever need to test whether a dependent clause is a noun clause or some other kind of clause, give it the “this” or “that” test! If the pronoun fits and the sentence still makes sense, it’s a noun clause. 

The question words (who? what? when? where? why? and how?) are commonly associated with noun clauses because they signal exactly what kind of information the noun clause will add to the sentence. In fact, these kinds of question words are also called “noun clause identifiers” because they are the bridge that connects a noun clause to the rest of the sentence in this basic form: 

 

question word + subject + verb  

what I know

  

where we live

  

who they love

 

From that base form, noun clauses can include any number of other modifiers to flesh out the information posed by the question word. 

 

what I have always secretly known

  

where we hope to live someday

  

who they know in their heart of hearts is the love of their life 

 

But no matter how many words it contains, the noun clause maintains that same basic framework, and it all still functions together as one noun, which means you can use it anywhere a noun might otherwise go in a sentence. 

Functions of a Noun	Example with a Noun Clause in Place of a Noun (question word + subject + verb)
Subject:  performs the action of the sentence	What I want is the freedom to travel.
Object of a verb: receives the action of a transitive verb	Travel agents ask why I don’t have specific requests for vacation spots.
Object of a preposition:  follows a preposition and gives it meaning in relation to the rest of the sentence	The final destination will depend on how much I can afford.
Complement:  renames or defines another noun, often following a linking verb	My final choice for the first trip, where my budget met my dreams, turned out to be an RV camper rental and a roadmap! It turns out a road trip is what my soul was craving.

Like all grammar rules, of course, there are some exceptions and some tricky spots to watch for: 

Question words sometimes appear in the form of relative pronouns with the suffix –ever, used to express a meaning such as “it doesn’t matter,” or “all,” or “every.”

The teacher gives extra credit to whomever she sees participating in peer review.   Wherever you want to eat is fine with me!   She trusted that whatever the doctor decided would be the best possible treatment.

Question words sometimes take the form of a relative pronoun that acts as the subject of the noun clause, reducing the base form to:  question word + verb

What  is required is passion and discipline.   I will take whoever  wants to go!   You find the answer in what  awaits you.

Question words used in the form of an actual question perform a different function than question words that introduce a noun clause.

Why are you running? (This is an independent clause, the word why acting as an adverb. The sentence does not contain a dependent clause, so it cannot be a noun clause.) You know why I’m running. (noun clause) Who goes there? (This is an independent clause, the word who acting as a pronoun and the subject of the sentence. The sentence does not contain a dependent clause, so it cannot be a noun clause.) The gatekeeper decides who goes there. (noun clause)  **If you’re ever unsure, ask yourself two questions: 1. Does the question word introduce an independent clause or a dependent clause?  2. If the answer is dependent, does it pass the “this/that” test?    You know this. The gatekeeper decides that.

 

 Do I Get It?

Take this short quiz to see what you have learned about noun clauses with question words.