Noun Clause & Conjunction

Noun Clause

Definition

A Noun-Clause is a group of words which contains a Subject and a Predicate of its own and does the work of a noun.

"All sentences, then, are clauses, but not all clauses are sentences. In the following sentences, for example, the direct object slot contains a clause rather than a noun phrase. These are examples of nominal clauses (sometimes called 'noun clauses'):

I know that the students studied their assignment.

I wonder what is making Tracy so unhappy.

These nominal clauses are examples of dependent clauses--in contrast to independent clauses, those clauses that function as complete sentences."
Examples:

• They replied that they would come to this town.

• Do you know who stole the watch?

• I thought that it would be fine day.

• No one knows who he is.

• I did not know what he would do next.

• How the budget got in is a mystery.

• Pay careful attention to what I am going to say.

• I do not understand how all it happened.

The Noun-Clauses can be replaced with suitable Nouns or with suitable Noun-Phrases.

• No one knows when he will come. (Noun-Clauses)
• No one knows the time of his coming. (Noun-Phrases)

Noun Clause Exercise

·                     Find out the noun clauses in the following sentences and state what purpose they serve.

1.                   He said that he was not feeling well.

2.                   I cannot rely on what he says.

3.                   I don’t know where he has gone.

4.                   He asked whether the servant had polished his shoes.

5.                   The news that he is alive has been confirmed.

6.                   The belief that the soul is immortal is almost universal.

Answers

1.                   Here the noun clause ‘that he was not feeling well’ is the object of the verb said

2.                   Here the noun clause ‘what he says’ is the object of the preposition on.

3.                   Here the noun clause ‘where he has gone’ is the object of the verb know. Her

4.                   the noun clause ‘whether the servant had polished his shoes’ is the object of verb asked.

5.                  Here the noun clause ‘that he is alive’ is in apposition to the noun news

6.                  Here the noun clause ‘that the soul is immortal’ is in apposition to the noun belief.

Conjunctions Definition  grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated conj or cnj) is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each language. In general, a conjunction is an invariable grammatical particle, and it may or may not stand between the items it conjoins. The definition may also be extended to idiomatic phrases that behave as a unit with the same function as a single-word conjunction (as well as, provided that, etc.). Many students are taught that certain conjunctions (such as "and", "but", and "so") should not begin sentences, although authorities such as the Chicago Manual of Style proclaim that this teaching has "no historical or grammatical foundation     Here are some example conjunctions: Coordinating Conjunctions Subordinating Conjunctions and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so although, because, since, unless We can consider conjunctions from three aspects. Form Conjunctions have three basic forms: Single Word for example: and, but, because, although Compound (often ending with as or that) for example: provided that, as long as, in order that Correlative (surrounding an adverb or adjective) for example: so...that Function Conjunctions have two basic functions or "jobs": Coordinating conjunctions are used to join two parts of a sentence that are grammatically equal. The two parts may be single words or clauses, for example: - Jack and Jill went up the hill. - The water was warm, but I didn't go swimming. Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a subordinate dependent clause to a main clause, for example: - I went swimming although it was cold.   Position Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join. Subordinating conjunctions usually come at the beginning of the subordinate clause. In this lesson we will look in more detail at: Coordinating Conjunctions Subordinating conjunctions Subordinating conjunctions, also called subordinators, are conjunctions that conjoin an independent clause and a dependent clause. Subordinating conjunctions are only used for/in complex sentences and independent clause and a dependent clause.The most common subordinating conjunctions in the English language include after, although, as, as far as, as if,as long as, as soon as, as though, because, before, if, in order that, since, so, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, whereas, wherever, and while.Complementizers can be considered to be special subordinating conjunctions that introduce complement clauses (e.g., "I wonder whether he'll be late. I hope that he'll be on time"). Some subordinating conjunctions (until and while), when used to introduce a phrase instead of a full clause, become prepositions with identical meanings. In many verb-final languages, subordinate clauses must precede the main clause on which they depend. The equivalents to the subordinating conjunctions of non-verb-final languages such as English are either §  clause-final conjunctions (e.g. in Japanese), or §  suffixes attached to the verb and not separate words Such languages in fact often lack conjunctions as a part of speech because: 1.     the form of the verb used is formally nominalised and cannot occur in an independent clause 2.     the clause-final conjunction or suffix attached to the verb is actually formally a marker of case and is also used on nouns to indicate certain functions. In this sense, the subordinate clauses of these languages have much in common with postpositional phrases.

EXERCISE - CONJUNCTIONS

Fill in the blanks with these words: although, and, because, but, or, since, so, unless, until, when.

1.                  Let us wait here _____ the rain stops.

2.                  You cannot be a lawyer  _____ you have a law degree.

3.                  That was years _____ years ago.

4.                  She has not called _____ she left last week.

5.                  I saw him leaving an hour _____ two ago.

6.                  This is an expensive _____ very useful book.

Answer:

1.                  Until

2.                  Unless

3.                  And

4.                  Since

5.                  Or

6.                  But

SOURCE

http://www.english-for-students.com/Noun-Clause 

http://grammar.about.com

http://www.englishpractice.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(grammar)