Team: Monica and Catherine
Date: July 05, 2009
Noun Clauses
名詞子句
簡介
1. 句子分為兩種：獨立子句與非獨立子句。非獨立子句又可分為名詞子句、形容詞子句及
副詞子句三種。此章節針對名詞子句來做介紹。名詞子句可分三類，由 that、wh-word 及
if/whether 所引導的子句。
2. 名詞子句的功能等同於名詞片語，其差別為：名詞片語僅為字的組合並不包含主詞和動
詞。兩者皆可在句子中當主詞、受詞或補語。本組著重前兩種。
例: What he said was interesting.
名詞子句
His story was interesting.
名詞片語
內容
That-clauses and Wh-clauses
1. That-clauses (12-5: p248-251)
A. 放在動詞之後表想法、感覺及狀態。
B.
例 1: People used to believe that the earth was flat.
例 2: Do you ever feel that you might be in danger?
例 3: He mentioned that he had seen the report.
放在名詞當同位語或表情緒或態度的形容詞之後當補充說明。
C.
例 1: I was faced with the problem that I had no money.
例 2: Were you surprised that he passed the test?
Exercise: 練習 11 (p 249, 2-4)
Exercise: 練習 14 (p250, 2-4)
在動詞 know, say and think 之後 that 可省略。
D.
例 1: I knew (that) you’d finish first.
例 2: Dan said (that) he had a cold.
例 3: Do you think (that) it’s OK?
That 子句當主詞時不可省略。
例 1: That Juliet loved him was never in doubt.
例 2: That he said nothing doesn’t surprise me.
Exercise: 練習 16 (p 250, 2-4)
2. Wh-clauses 內含兩類: 由直接問句轉變而來的間接問句(wh-/how 子句)以及疑問句
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whether 子句。 (12-2 and 12-3, p240-244 and 245-7 )
A. 直/間接問句轉換
1) 助動詞 does, did 及 do 會出現在疑問句，但不會出現在名詞子句裡
例 1. Where does she live? → I don’t know where she lives.
例 2. What did he say? → I couldn’t hear what he said.
例 3. When do they arrive? → Do you know when they arrived?
2) 當疑問句→名詞子句，主詞都一樣為不確定的人、事、物時順序不變
例 1. Who lives there (S+V) → I don’t know who lives there. (S+V)
例 2, What happened? (S+V)→ Please tell me what happened. (S+V)
例 3. Who is at the door? (S+V) → I wonder who is at the door. (S+V)
3) 當疑問句 (V+S)→名詞子句 (S+V) 要把 be 動詞放在主詞後面
例 1. Who is she?(V+S) → I don’t know who she is. (S+V)
例 2. Who are those men? (V+S) → I don’t know who those men are. (S+V)
例 3. Whose house is that? (V+S) → I wonder whose house that is. (S+V)
4) 間接問句 wh-clauses 中主詞要在動詞之前，標點符號則由主要子句所決定
例 1: What does it mean? → I wonder what it means.
例 2: Where did he go? → They don’t know where he went.
例 3: How often did you study? → He asked how often you studied.
例 4: I can’t understand what she is saying. (Not I can’t understand what is she saying?)
例 5: Do you know what she is saying?
Exercise: 練習 2 (p241, 3-5 and 15-17)
練習 4 (p243, 8-10)
B. Whether 子句: 當我們不知道或間接問句以及不確定時會用 if/ whether；確定時會
用 that。
例 1: I can’t remember if/ whether I locked the door.
例 2: Was he married? Mary didn’t know. → Mary didn’t know if/whether he was
married.
例 3: He was married. But Mary didn’t know. →Mary didn’t know that he was married.
★附註:
1)
Whether/ if or not 的用法: Whether 是比較正式的用法，但 if 則是較普通的用
法，尤其是在口語用法上。
例 1: Will she come? → I don’t know whether/if she will come.
例 2: Does he need help? → I wonder whether/if he needs help.
2) Whether/ if not 的用法
例 1: I wonder whether or not (not “if or not”)she will come
例 2: I wonder whether/if she will come or not.
3) whether 子句當主詞時，不能與 if 互換
例 1: Whether she comes or not is unimportant to me.
Exercise: 練習 9 (p247, 2-6)
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用法
1. 名詞子句當主詞時
A. We can use a noun clause beginning with that = the fact that’) (1) or a wh-word (2) as
the subject before a verb, but usually only in formal situations.
例 1: That we won the match surprised everyone.
例 2: How the thieves broke in is obvious, but why they only took one old computer
B.
C.
is a mystery.
Instead of putting the noun clause in subject position, we usually use it as empty subject
and put the that-clause (3) or the wh-clause (4) at the end.
例 1: It surprised everyone that we won the match.
例 2: It ‘s obvious how the thieves broke in, but it is a mystery why they only took one
old computer.
We can use whether or if in a noun clause at the end after it as subject (5), but only
whether in a noun clause in subject position (6).
例 1: It surprised everyone that we won the match.
例 2: It ‘s obvious how the thieves broke in, but it is a mystery why they only took one
old computer.
例 3: It doesn’t really matter whether/if you go now or later.
例 4: Whether you go now or later doesn’t really matter. (Not “if you go now or later
doesn’t matter.”)
D. 當名詞子句為句子的主詞時，動詞要為單數
例 1: What did she say? → What she said surprised me.
例 2: What should they do? → What they should do is obvious.
2. 名詞子句當受詞時
A. 名詞子句做為動詞的受詞
例 1: We learn that pineapples don’t grow on trees.
例 2: She couldn’t never anticipate what he might want.
例 3: He screamed that he hated school.
1) After verbs such as show and tell, we include an indirect object (you, me) before a noun
clause as direct object.
例 1: He told me that he loved me. (Not He told that he loved me).
2) 借用虛主詞 “it”
a. After verb of ‘liking’ or (‘not liking’), we use it as an empty object before a noun
clause.
例 1: He doesn’t like it that she still smokes. I hate it that nobody every cleans up
after the meeting.
b. After ‘thinking’ verbs such as consider and think, we can use it as an empty object
plus a noun (12) or adjective (13) before a noun clause (14)
例 1: They consider it an offence when women go out in public without covering their
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heads.
例 2: We thought it odd that no one called us. (Not we thought odd no one called us.)
例 3: Many people regard it as a really bad idea that the police have started carrying
guns.
B. 名詞子句做為介系詞後的受詞，只能接 wh-clauses，不能接 that-clauses。
例 1: He disagreed with what we said.
例 2: I read about how he did it. (Not I read about that he did it.)
Exercise: 練習

Rewrite these sentences in a less formal style beginning with it.
Ex1: That they don’t have any money left doesn’t surprise me at all.
→ It doesn’t surprise me at all that they don’t have any money left.
Ex2: That children would rather sit watching TV instead of playing outside just
astonishes me.
→


Add one set of words to each paragraph (not necessarily in this order).
it/ that /that
it/that/what
that/where/whether
Ex1: He wanted to know ( what
) we were doing, but ( it
) was obvious
( that
) he didn’t really seem very interested in our answer.
Ex2: Sometimes one of them will say ( that
) he or she actually prefers
( it
)( that
) the other has separate interests.
Ex3: ( whether
) Robert’s new schedule will be an improvement remains to be
seen, but no one liked it ( that
)he just decided (
where
) the changes
would be made without consulting anyone.
Correct the mistake in these sentences.
Ex1: Mr. Baker complained about the noise was predictable, but we assured it wouldn’t
happen again.
→ That Mr. Baker complained about the noise was predictable, but we assured him
(that) it wouldn’t happen again.
OR→ It was predictable that Mr. Baker complained about the noise, but we assured
him (that) it wouldn’t happen again.
Ex2: The headmaster warned during our meeting some teachers wouldn’t like their
classrooms has suddenly been changed.
→
綜合練習:
練習 30 (p261, 1-10)
參考資料: Oxford Practice Grammar, Understanding and Using English Grammar
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