Sentence Complexity and Embedding

Subordinate Noun Clauses

Activity 15.7: Noun Clause Structure

Each sentence below contains two clauses.  Find them and draw a vertical line to separate the two.  Then describe how these noun clauses differ from the ones we’ve already looked at.

1. Ted knows | who stole the necklace.
2. I understand | what made him mad.
3. We can’t decide | where we should eat dinner.
4. They talked about | when they would meet.
5. I don’t know | why Johnny ate three packets of ketchup.
6. The teacher explained | how we should line up.
7. What made him mad | was the tone of your voice.
8. Why Johnny ate three packets of ketchup | mystifies me.

Differences from other noun clauses:

The noun clauses begin with wh- question words, not subordinating conjunctions.

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