Noun Clause

Noun Clause are very useful:

1. You use it to express thoughts:

I think you are vey nice person.

2. Or you use it to express your hopes:

I hope you enjoy this information.

3. Or express thinks you know or don't know:

I don't know where you are right now.

4. Or to report what people say:

Your friend told me that your english is very good!

Noun Clause has a subject and a verb. That's where it gets the name Clause. And it acts like a Noun, so it's called Noun Clause.

A noun can be the object of a verb. Here is a Noun Object:

S           V                    O
I don't know your name.

And here is a Noun Clause as the object of the verb:

S           V                          O
                                   S           V
I don't know what your name is.

- It can start with a question word, like where:

I don't know where you live.

- It can also start with if:

I don't know if you are a student or a teacher.

- It can even start with that:

I hope that you'll find this information helpful.

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Noun clauses that begin with a question word

Noun clauses that begin with a question word

We will tell you how Information Question and Noun Clause are different and how they are the same.

Now, Information Questions begin with question words:

Where is Mr. Lee?

Noun Clauses begin with question words too, but Noun Clauses just don't ask questions!

I don't know where Mr. Lee is.

But remember, you use question word order in an Information Question.

Where did Mr. Lee go?

You DON'T use question word order in a Noun Clause:

I don't know where Mr. Lee went.

Information Question and Noun Clause are different.

Except! Information Question and Noun Clause are the same when the question word is the subject.

Here's a Question:

Who invented the computer?

And here's a Noun Clause:

I don't know who invented the computer.

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Noun clauses with who, what, whose + be

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Noun clauses with who, what, whose + be

Learners sometimes have a little trouble with word order in Noun Clauses. That's especially true if the verb is Is.

Look at this question:

Who is your teacher?

There's a noun following the verb is:  teacher. It's the subject of the question.

And the subject of a question comes in front of a verb in a Noun Clause! Like this:

I don't know who your teacher is.

Now let me ask you:

Who is listening to us right now?

In that question, Who is the subject.

So in a Noun Clause the word order is the same as in the question:

I don't know who is listening to us.

The same situation happens with what and whose when using the verb be in Noun Clauses.

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Noun clauses that begin with if or weather

Noun clauses that begin with if or weather

Let's show you how a Yes/No Question turns into a Noun Clause that starts with IF:

Do horses sleep standing up?

I don't know if horses sleep standing up.

You can add Or Not if you want:

I don't know if horses sleep standing up or not.

Or use Whether, it means the same thing as IF:

I don't know whether horses sleep standing up.

Here is another Yes/No Question that turns into a Noun Clause:

Do fish close their eyes to sleep?

I've often wondered if fish close their eyes to sleep.

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Noun clauses that begin with that

Noun clauses that begin with that

I believe that people are the same the word over.

We have cultural differences and language differences. But we all smile when we're happy . A smile is universally human. And we need food and sleep. We love, laugh, cry, work, grow old... the world over:

I hope that people over the word live in peace.
I know that there have always been wars, but
I predict that someday humans will find better ways to solve their differences.

Do you see how useful That-Clauses is in expressing beliefs, hopes, thoughts? That's the That-Clause job!

Here is a good list of verbs that That-Clauses follow.

Notice how most of them express "mental activity"; that means things that go on inside your mind: thoughts, guesses, predictions, dreams. Look the list over. It has a lot of useful words.

You can omit That. It doesn't really mean anything:

I believe we're all one family.

See? No That after believe. People omit That from a That-clause a lot, especially in speaking.

Common verbs followed by That-clauses:

assume that agree that believe that conclude that decide that demostrate that discover that doubt that dream that fear that

feel that figure out that find out that forget that guess that hear that hope that Know that imagine that indicate that

learn that notice that observe that predict that presume that presend that prove that read that realize that recall that

recognize that regret that remember that reveal that say that show that suppose that suspect that teach that think that understand that

That-clause is also usefull in expressing feelings!

I'm happy that we have this time together.
I'm pleased that you came to visit me.

but remember, you can omit that:

I'm sorry you have to leave soon.
I'm sure we'll see each other again sometime.

One last thing. You can also use That-Clauses after it is true or it is a fact... very useful:

It's true that the population of the earth is exploding.
It's a fact that there are more than 6 billion people on earth.

Common expressions followed by That-Clauses:

be afraid that be amazed that be angry that be ashamed that be astounded that be aware that be certain that be convinced that

be delighted that be disappointed that be fortunate that be furious that be glad that be happy that be horrified that be impressed tha

be lucky that be positive that be pleased that be proud that be sad that be sorry that be shocked that be sure that

be surprised that be terrified that be thrilled that be worried that It is true that It is a fact that

Do hourses sleep standin up?
I don't really know, but I think so.

So have a lot of jobs in English, and one of them is to substitute for That-Clause. "Substitute" means So takes his place. When we said "I think so," this meant:

I think that horses sleep standing up.

As you see, you can use So, instead of a whole, long That-Clause.

So is really useful in conversation.

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Quoted and Reported Speech

Quoted and Reported Speech

Quoted Speech

You use Quotation Marks in writting to show that you are quoting someone else's exact words:

Somebody, let's say, Bob says: "Learning English is fun". Now how do you write Bob's exact words? Well, start with He said with comma (He said,), then add Quotation Marks ("), then his exact words, and finally add a period at the end of the sentence followed by Quotation Marks ("):

He said, "Learning English is fun."

Reported Speech

He said... She said... Somebody told me... We report what other people say all the time. That's where Reported Speech come in.

Let's say, Bob says: "I am thirsty". Now what did he say? Let's use Reported Speech:

He said that he was thirsty.

Notice three things:

1- You don't use Quotation Marks in Reported Speech.
2- You don't use the speaker's exact words. Often you change pronouns. We used he instead of I when we reported Bob's words.
3- You often change the verb to a different tense. We changed is to was.

So, this is Quoted Speech:

Bob said, "I am thirsty."

And this is Reported Speech:

Bob said (that) he was thirsty.

That can be omitted in Reported Speech.

Verb Forms in Reported Speech

We want to show you how verb forms are used in Reported Speech:

Bob: I need a new watch.
Bob said he needed a new watch.

Bob: I lost my old one.
He said he had lost his old one.

Bob: I'm going to buy a new one.
He said he was going to buy a new one.

Bob: I'll get one tomorrow.
He said he would get one tomorrow.

Bob: I can't go shopping today because I don't have time.
He said he couldn't go shopping today because he didn't have time.

We put Bob's verb into a past form when was reported his words. Do you have to do that? No. It's okay to say:

Bob said he needs a new watch
He said he will get one tomorrow.

And so forth. You don't need to change the verbs when you report them soon after they were said.

But if they were said quite a while ago, then you usually change the verbs to a past form, especially in formal writing, but often in informal speaking, too.

Reported Speech uses reporting verbs. The most common ones are said, told, and asked:

Said is followed immediately by a that-clause.

Bob said that he was thirsty.

Told is followed immediately by a noun or pronoun, then a that-clause.

Bob told us that he was thirsty.

Asked is used to report questions:

Bob asked if you were a student.

And there are some other common reporting verbs, like want to know, wonder, and inquire. The verbs answer and reply are often used to report replies.

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