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Why do we Use Noun Clauses?
A noun clause takes the place of a subject, object, or complement because it ex-
presses something that cannot be expressed by a single word noun or short noun
phrase. The above example illustrates this perfectly. How could I express “what-
ever you want” in one single word?
Here’s another example:
What she said inspired me to enroll in university.
Here, the noun clause is the subject of the sentence. It refers to something a
woman has said to the speaker. There is no way we could capture that in a single
word noun.
Let’s take another example:
Steve Jobs was a genius.
In this sentence, “Steve Jobs” is the subject and “a genius” is the complement
of the verb “was.” However, I could replace the subject with a noun clause:
Whoever invented the iPhone was a genius.
Here, the subject is “whoever invented the iPhone”. It suggests that we don’t
know who invented it. This uncertainty is also a reason why we may want to use
a noun clause.
Noun clauses, then, are an integral part of the English language. They help
us express ideas that are more complex than a more basic sentence would allow.
How to Recognize and Use Noun Clauses
If noun clauses act as a subject, object, or complement, then we should first look
for the verb in a sentence and ask who is doing it, or what it is being done to. This
can help us to locate the noun clause. Sometimes, though, we need to instead
find the preposition, as a noun clause may function as the object of a preposition.
I wonder why she didn’t come to work today.
You should think about what you want to do next year.
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