More about clauses

We've looked at nouns, and the work they do, and at adjectives and adverbs and the work they do. Let's go back now to clauses, and see how a whole clause can function like a noun or an adjective or an adverb. We'll start with noun clauses, since nouns were the first class of words we studied.

Noun clauses

We all know this policy is controversial.
(We all know something.)

She said she needed a new chair.
(She said something.)

That the old chair was falling apart was clear to everyone.
(Something was clear to everyone.)

Whether we go tomorrow depends largely on Jack.
(Something depends largely on Jack.)

These whole clauses function as nouns. You can put the word something in their place and it makes sense. It may not be brilliant sense, but it is sense.

Like a noun, a noun clause can be the subject of a verb.

 

The noun clause in the third example is the subject of was (clear). The one in the fourth example is the subject of depends.

Or it can be the object of a verb. The noun clause in the first example is the object of know. The one in the second example is the object of said.

Adjective clauses

An adjective, you recall, describes a noun. An adjective clause does the same. We saw some of these in the section on pronouns, because an adjective clause often starts with a relative pronoun such as who, which, that or whom. It would be a good idea at this stage to read that section again. It's on page 13.

Here are some more examples. The adjective clause is circled, and the arrow points to the noun described.

 

As you can see, in the last example there is no relative pronoun introducing the adjective clause. It is omitted but “understood”, and it could be either that or which.

Adverb clauses

If English has plenty of adverbs, which you remember are words that mostly describe actions, why should we have whole clauses instead of single words? Sometimes there is no single adverb that says what we want to say, so we string together a clause to do the job.

There are adverb clauses of: