noun clause

Definition:

A dependent clause that functions as a noun (that is, as a subject, object, or complement) within a sentence.

Examples and Observations:

• "I know that there are things that never have been funny, and never will be. And I know that ridicule may be a shield, but it is not a weapon."
  (Dorothy Parker)



• "I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright."
  (Henry David Thoreau)



• "How we remember, what we remember, and why we remember form the most personal map of our individuality."
  (Christina Baldwin)



• "That dogs, low-comedy confederates of small children and ragged bachelors, should have turned into an emblem of having made it to the middle class--like the hibachi, like golf clubs and a second car--seems at the very least incongruous."
  (Edward Hoagland, "Dogs, and the Tug of Life")



• "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."
  (Martha Kolln and Robert Funk, Understanding English Grammar, 5th ed., Allyn and Bacon, 1998)



• "I have run,
  I have crawled,
  I have scaled these city walls,
  These city walls
  Only to be with you,
  Only to be with you.
  But I still haven't found what I'm looking for."
  (written and performed by U2, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," The Joshua Tree, 1987)



• "Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."
  (Mahatma Gandhi)

Also Known As: nominal clause