Noun Clauses
Subject Clauses
培养学生自主学习能力的策略研究
集安市第一中学
高昆
The structures of a simple sentence
S + Vi
S + Vt + O
S+V+P
S + Vt + Oin + Od
S + Vt + O + OC
Subjects
 Our
plane is taking off in five minutes.
 To act like that is not polite.
 All work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy.
 What he has just said is true.
 That you are leaving is a pity.
Subject clauses (that)
 That
you are leaving is a pity.
 That she is still alive gives us a big
surprise.
 That you are coming to Ji’an is the best
news.
 That he achieved his goal delighted his
classmates.
Subject clauses (that)
that—无词意；不充当从句的成分。
 It is a pity that we can’t go.
 It is certain that she will do well in her
exam.
 It seems that Alice is not coming to the
party tonight.
 It is said that Mr. Green has arrived in
Beijing.
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That in other noun clauses
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He told us (that) he felt ill.
I’m afraid (that) you don’t understand what I said.
He has made it clear that he will not give in.
My uncle says (that) he has worked here for 20
years and that he is going to retire next month.
I do not doubt that he will succeed .
(Note : I doubt whether/if he will succeed.)
Have you heard the news that Mary will be back?
(Note : Who told you the news that was printed in
the newspaper yesterday?)
That in noun clauses
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that—无词意；不充当从句的成分。引导宾语从句
时，有时可以省略。
Note：
1.有形式宾语时不可以省略；
2.引导两个及以上宾语从句时，第二个开始不可以
省略；
3.doubt的否定句及疑问句用that引导，肯定句用
whether/if引导；
4.that引导同位语从句时，无词意、不充当成分、
不省略，引导定语从句时，代替先行词、充当从句
的成分。
Subject clauses (whether)
 Whether
it will do us harm or good
remains to be seen.
 Whether she comes or not makes no
difference.
 Whether he will attend the concert
doesn’t matter.
Subject clauses (whether)
whether—有词意，“是否”；不充当从句的
成分。
 It remains to be seen whether it will do us
harm or good.
 It make no difference whether she comes or
not.
 It doesn’t matter whether he will attend the
concert.
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Whether / if in other noun clauses
I didn’t know whether/if he would attend
the concert.
 It all depends on whether they will support
us.
 I don’t care whether/if he has a holiday or
not.
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Note:
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Please let me know if you want to join us.
Whether / if in noun clauses
whether/if —有词意，“是否”；不充当从
句的成分（引导宾语从句时，有时可以用if
替代 whether）。
 whether引导所有名词性从句，if只引导宾语
从句。
 在宾语从句中，可以用whether ……or not，
也可以用if……or not。
 引导介词的宾语从句用whether，不用if。
 If可以引导宾语从句，也可以引导状语从句。
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Exercises about that/whether/if
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That
____light travels in a straight line is known to all.
that was out that day.
It happened ____I
He told us (____)
that he felt ill.
_______
Whether the football game will be played depends
on the weather.
I don’t care _________he
has a holiday or not.
whether/if
whether
It all depends on _______they
will support us.
Please let me know if you want to join us.
Please let me know whether you want to join us.
Who, whom, whose, what, which;
where, when, how, why
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Who will stay makes no difference.
No one knows who/whom he was waiting for.
Do you know whose dictionary it is?
What she lacks is experience.
Let me know which train you will take.
Where I spent my holiday is not important.
I want to know when we can visit the museum.
How it was done was a secret.
I wonder why he behaved like that.
Who, whom, whose, what, which;
where, when, how, why
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各自都有一定的词意，与本身的含义相关；
各自在从句中充当一定的成分。不存在省略
现象。
Compare:
Please let me know when you arrive.
 Please let me know when you will arrive.
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Subject clauses( whoever, whomever,
whatever, whichever, whosever)
Whoever comes to the club is welcome.
 Whomever he likes is very smart.
 Whatever they could find on the island was
eaten up.
 Whichever you want is yours.
 Whosever book is lost will be fined.
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Subject clauses( whoever, whomever,
whatever, whichever)
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whoever，whomever，whatever，whichever—分
别是 who，whom，what，which的强调形式。
一般来说：
whoever = anyone who
whomever = anyone whom
whatever = anything that
whichever = anything that
Whoever, whomever, whatever, whichever,
whosever in adverbial clauses
Whoever you are, you can’t pass this way.
 Whomever you like, you can’t help him in
that way.
 Whatever happened, I must be calm.
 Whichever book you take, you must sign
your name here.
 Whosever pet it is, it must be examined by
the vet.
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Whoever, whomever, whatever, whichever,
whosever in adverbial clauses
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whoever, whomever, whatever, whichever,
whosever在引导状语从句时，表示“无论……”、“
不管……”。
可以如下替换：
whoever = no matter who
whomever = no matter whom
whatever = no matter what
whichever = no matter which
whosever = no matter whose
Summary
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that—无词意；不充当从句的成分（引导宾语从句
时，有时可以省略）。
whether—有词意，“是否”；不充当从句的成分（
引导宾语从句时，有时可以用if 替代 whether）。
连接代词和连接副词—各自都有一定的词意，与本
身的含义相关；各自在从句中充当一定的成分；不
存在省略现象。
wh-ever—可以引导名词性从句或者状语从句，而
no matter wh-ever 只能引导状语从句。
Fill in the blanks with “that (twice), how (twice), why,
whether .”
How
_____dinosaurs
disappeared is not only a question
which interests biologists and geologists. It is a
favorite topic for discussion for physicists and
why
astronomers . They would like to know ____
dinosaurs became extinct because this may help
them find ways to solve the problem of global
that the earth
warming. Some scientists believe ____
slowly became hot and dry dozens of millions of
years ago. ____
How the climate changed is uncertain,
but water and food supply decreased and so the
dinosaurs gradually died out. However, the
mammals survived.
Other scientists believe ____
that a comet crashed into
the earth long ago and caused the disappearance.
As a result of this event, a great dust cloud formed
in the sky blocking out the sunlight. Without sunlight,
most plants soon died and_ so many dinosaur
species became extinct. Since the last ice age, the
climate of the earth has not changed very much.
However, _______
whether the climate will change again is
a concern for everybody on earth.
Fill in the blanks with “how, that (five times), what
(twice).”
Before Einstein, what
____ was believed by many
that light travelled through space in
scientists was ____
a straight line. But after years of research, Einstein
suggested ____
that light coming from the stars was
bent as it passed the sun. What
____ was suggested by
Einstein was so new; it was said ____
that only three
people in the world could understand it at that time.
The difficulty was ___
how he could prove his ideas to
other scientists.
that many of the scientists
It did not upset Einstein ____
did not accept his ideas. He stuck to his opinion and
went on with his research. By 1919, with the
astronomers’ support, he had succeeded in
convincing them of his theory. He quickly became
that
word-famous. Now it is generally accepted ____
Einstein was the leading scientist of the 20th century.
Complete the story using noun clauses.
I am going to tell you an unbelievable story. This
afternoon a poorly dressed gentleman came into
my restaurant. Nobody knew_____. After sitting
down, he ordered a lot of food. He stared at it and
then ate it up very quickly. It seemed ____. We
wondered _____. We were very surprised _____.
To be honest, we doubted _____ . When he was
asked to pay the bill, the gentleman asked _____ .
Then we were shocked to see _____. Unfortunately,
we could not change the bank note as it was too
large. So I gave this strange but very rich man a
free dinner, in the hope that _____.
Homework
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Compare noun clauses with attributive
clauses.
Pay attention to:
1.that
 2.what
 Study the usages of when and if, giving
some examples.
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Thank you!