Types of Subordinate Clauses: Noun Clauses
Noun clauses act as nouns in sentences. While nouns can be found in many places in a sentence (objects, objects of prepositions, predicate nominatives, etc.), one of the most common places to use a noun clause is in the subject of the sentence. Consider the following example:
That Mrs. Mallard is joyful about her husband’s death is shocking.
Notice that the clause “That Mrs. Mallard is joyful about her husband’s death” does the work of the noun (or subject) in this sentence. To see this, the reader can ask, “Who or what is shocking?” The answer is the subject of the sentence: “That Mrs. Mallard is joyful about her husband’s death” is shocking.
Noun clauses commonly begin with the following words:
- that
- what
- where
- when
- who
- whom
- which
- whose
- how
- why
- whether
Read the following sentence:
What Jimmy doesn’t understand is not important to his success in this class.
