A nominal clause, another kind of
dependent clause, can fill noun positions in a sentence. Nominal clauses enable
us to embed a clause within a larger sentence and use the sentence to make some
observation or judgment about the nominal clause.
Let’s begin with
these sentences, each of which has a transitive verb and a direct object:
I know Bill.
He knows Oshkosh.
She will know the answer.
Now, let’s take this sentence:
The plane will leave on time.
We can make this
sentence into a nominal clause to make a number of statements about the clause:
He knows that the plane will leave on time.
She will know if the plane will leave on
time.
Why the plane did not leave on
time
is beyond my comprehen-sion.
There are two
kinds of nominal clauses, and we distinguish them here by the word that begins
the clause.
QUESTION-WORD
NOMINALS
These nominal
clauses begin with the question words who,
what, when, where, why, how and which. They can also begin with compound pronouns, the ones that begin with question words and end
with ever (whoever, whomever, and whatever).
Let’s begin with a
question: Who did it? We can embed
that question within a declarative sentence, as a direct object. Here the
nominal clause is underlined:
I know who
did it.
We can also create
direct objects with other clauses that begin with question words:
I learned what
he did.
I discovered when he did it.
I saw where
he did it.
I will ask why he did it.
I will show you how he did it.
Notice that most
of these nominal clauses are not worded like questions by our usual standards:
They don’t have the normal word order of questions.
The compound
pronouns—whoever, whomever, and whatever— can also begin nominal
clauses:
We will use whatever we find.
We will hire whoever applies for this job.
FILLING NOUN
POSITIONS
As the examples
above illustrate, nominal clauses appear where nouns can appear. They are often
the direct objects of transitive verbs like know,
see, and learn.
Nominal clauses can also be subjects:
Where these people went is not yet known.
Why they come here is a mystery.
Nominal clauses can be objects of a preposition:
The professor is writing a
book about how people can
improve their writing.
Mr. Chayle has time for whoever needs help and
for what-ever happens.
They can be indirect objects:
You can give whoever applies the job.
And they can be predicate nominatives, following linking verbs:
My question is who took my lunch?
NOMINALS WITH THAT, IF, OR WHETHER
The three words that, if, and whether (sometimes called nom-inalizers)
can also make independent clauses into nominal claus-es that fill noun
positions. Here are nominal clauses functioning as direct objects:
I wonder if
she arrives today.
I learned that
she arrives today.
I don’t know whether [or not] she will arrive today.
He demanded that they serve him immediately.
We doubt if
they will cooperate.
In the third
example above, whether or not could
be treated as a single nominalizing phrase. The sentences above demonstrate
that these nominal clauses can be direct objects of the verbs know, see, and learn. They
could also be objects of the verbs
demand, ask, inquire, imagine, doubt,
and others.
These verbs
indicate an intellectual process that is being per-formed upon the idea in the
nominal clause. More simply, we’re thinking about the idea of the nominal
clause.
These clauses can
perform almost every other function of a noun. They can be subjects:
That the sun is at the center of
our solar system is beyond all question.
These clauses can
also perform other nominal functions, in-cluding those of predicate nominatives
or objects of prepositions:
The main complaint about the car was that it was too expensive.
We know nothing about him except that he arrived yesterday.
We often omit the that
nominalizer:
The main complaint about the
car was [that] it was too expensive.
We know nothing about him except [that] he arrived yesterday.
But we can’t omit if or whether:
We asked if
they are ready.
We wondered whether they were ready.
In the exercises
in this chapter, nominalized clauses will always make that explicit.
POINTS FOR
WRITERS
1. That’s that.
Compare these sentences:
I know that
he will attend the ceremony.
I know he will attend the ceremony.
We showed them that they were wrong.
We showed them they were wrong.
In the first pair,
the version without that is more
conversational, more direct, and stronger. That’s how we read it, anyway.
In the second
pair, omitting that eliminates the
clumsy series of three words beginning with th-.
That’s an especially helpful change if the text is to be read aloud.
Eliminating that would also help this sentence:
We should tell them that that music is too loud.
You can see that
that that before that music is so repetitive that that that should be deleted. And that’s that.
EXERCISES
1. In
the following sentences, identify the functions of each underlined nominal clause. The clauses can be direct objects,
subjects, indirect objects, object complements, predicate nomina-tives, or
other functions.
I know why you did that.
I can’t imagine what they will do next
or who will do it.
When they arrive is unknown.
You already know that they don’t know the
area well.
Why they come here is a mystery.
The professor is writing a
book about how people improve their writing.
Whether he will succeed is what we are all wondering.
He discussed why climate change is
happening.
When he arrives, I will tell him when we
are leaving.
2. In
these sentences, identify the nominal clauses and then identify their functions in each sentence. The clauses can be
direct objects, subjects, indirect objects, object complements, predicate
nominatives, or other functions. Watch out for other uses of that, including the relative pronoun.
The statement summarizes what he is saying.
We will learn if tickets are still available.
When we will meet again is the next topic.
I have a question about who broke the equipment.
I will tell whoever is interested about the news.
I don’t know why he left.
His claim was that he was abducted by aliens.
His wife made him what he is today.
I don’t think that we should blame that on his wife.
We were taught that anything that is worth
doing is worth doing well.
