English Grammar Drills - Mark Lester 2009
That clauses
7 Noun Clauses
Part 1 Noun Phrases
Noun clauses are dependent clauses that function as noun phrases. (Dependent clauses have their own subjects and verbs, but they are not able to stand alone as complete sentences.) Noun clauses, like gerunds and infinitives used as nouns, are singular, and thus they can always be replaced by the third-person singular pronoun it. Here are examples of noun clauses playing the four noun roles of subject, object of verb, object of preposition, and predicate nominative (the complement of a linking verb). The noun clauses are underlined, and the examples also show how it can substitute for the noun clause.
There are different ways of constructing noun clauses. In this book, we will cover the two main ways of forming noun clauses, which are usually referred to by the word that begins each type. The two different types are that clauses and wh- clauses (wh- words are so called because nearly all the initial words begin with the letters wh-. For example, who, when, where, and why are wh- words).
That clauses
That clauses are built in a very simple way. They consist of the introductory word that followed by a statement in its normal word order:
that clause = that + statement
Unlike wh- clauses, the other main type of noun clause, that clauses cannot play the role of object of preposition. For example, compare the following pair of sentences, the first with a wh- clause and the second with a that clause:
wh- clause: I am not upset at what you did.
that clause: X I am not upset at that you did it.
Here are some examples of that clauses playing the other three main roles of subject, object of a verb, and predicate nominative. In all the following examples, the introductory that is in italics and the entire noun clause is underlined. The examples also show how it can replace the noun clause.
Exercise 7.1
Underline the that clauses in the following sentences. Confirm your answer by substituting the pronoun it for the that clause.
1. That the movie was in French came as something of a shock.
2. Don’t you find that you get really exhausted after long flights?
3. I wish that it would stop raining.
4. That I know all the answers astonished me.
5. Our intention was that we would take a trip to New Mexico this summer.
6. I think that they should quit while they are ahead.
7. The first approximation was that we were about 10 percent under budget.
8. That we were going to be late seemed obvious at this point.
9. My friends told Barbara that she should jump at such a good opportunity.
10. Do you think that it is a good idea to go ahead?
11. After much debate, we all agreed that we would enter the competition.
12. The funny thing was that we had been right all along.
13. I said that we would be able to finish on time.
14. They just assumed that everything would be OK.
15. The conclusion was that we should stick to our original plan.
16. The kids promised that they would be home by dinner time.
17. That they loved Italian food was obvious from their empty plates.
18. Their assumption was that they could rent a car when they got there.
19. I expect that we will be hearing from them any time now.
20. The difference was that we were prepared and they were not.
While it is perfectly grammatical to use that clauses as subjects, most speakers prefer to move these clauses to the end of the sentence, putting an it in the subject position as a “dummy” placeholder or marker. (In Chapter 6, we saw exactly the same thing with infinitive phrases used as subjects.) For example, consider the subject that clause in the following sentence:
That the flight was going to be delayed didn’t come as a big surprise.
The that clause can easily be moved to the end with a dummy it in the subject position:
It didn’t come as a big surprise that the flight was going to be delayed.
Here are some more examples of shifted that clauses:
Original: That I couldn’t remember his name was only to be expected.
Shifted: It was only to be expected that I couldn’t remember his name.
Original: That they could actually win almost seemed too good to be true.
Shifted: It almost seemed too good to be true that they could actually win.
Original: That the cost of college is rapidly rising is beyond question.
Shifted: It is beyond question that the cost of college is rapidly rising.
Exercise 7.2
Underline the subject that clauses and then move them to the end of the sentence, putting a dummy it in the empty subject position.
That they would even consider doing it seems a little out of character.
It seems a little out of character that they would even consider doing it.
1. That it was over so quickly came as a big relief.
2. That the road was impassable soon became obvious.
3. That we had made a good decision would appear to be the case.
4. That the workers would need more time seemed certain.
5. That they should address the problem quickly was apparent to everyone.
6. That we would have to reschedule the meeting seemed increasingly likely.
7. That I would have to cancel the meeting became clear after all.
8. That the risk was getting too great to accept was likely.
9. That they had forgotten to confirm our reservation became embarrassingly obvious.
10. That she had to leave so soon was a great disappointment to all her fans.
Noun clauses that begin with that superficially resemble adjective clauses that also begin with that. For example, compare the uses of that in the following pair of sentences:
Noun clause: I know that we should change the designs.
Adjective clause: I know designs that we should change.
The simplest way to distinguish the two different types of clauses is to replace the noun clause with it:
We cannot use it to replace the adjective clause beginning with that:
Another simple way to tell the two uses of that apart is to see if you can replace that with which. That and which are usually interchangeable in adjective clauses:
Adjective clause: I know designs that we should change.
Adjective clause: I know designs which we should change.
We cannot replace the that in a noun clause with which.
Noun clause: I know that we should change the designs.
Noun clause: X I know which we should change the designs.
Exercise 7.3
The following sentences contain a mixture of noun clauses and adjective clauses. Underline the clauses and label them Noun or Adjective (Adj) as appropriate. Confirm your answer by using the it replacement test for noun clauses and the which substitution for adjective clauses.
1. The coach claimed that the referee had made a mistake.
2. Did you hear that we are going to get a big snowstorm this weekend?
3. The experiment that we had proposed was finally approved.
4. I almost forgot that we were going to the Smiths’ tonight.
5. They will never forget the trip that they took to New Zealand.
6. We finally picked a design that we could all agree on.
7. Everybody felt that the discussion had gone as well as it could.
8. I am very worried about the meeting that we will have this afternoon.
9. We quickly discovered that we could not get a cab in a rainstorm.
10. The cab that we had ordered never showed up.
When a that clause is used as the object of a verb, we often delete the word that from the beginning of the noun clause. Here are some examples with the deleted that represented by 0 in the underlined that clauses.
We knew — it was getting pretty late.
Do you understand — we may not be able to hold your reservation?
The manager said — the hotel will be full this weekend.
I suggest — we look for another restaurant closer by.
The waiter said — we would need to wait at least twenty minutes.
Deleting the introductory that from the beginning of that clauses poses a special problem for nonnative speakers because the introductory word that is the obvious clue that signals the beginning of a that clause. That clauses are unique in this respect: no other type of noun clause has the option of deleting its introductory word. Consequently, anytime we recognize a noun clause that does not begin with a distinctive introductory word, we know by default that it must be a that clause with the that deleted.
Exercise 7.4
Many of the following sentences contain a that clause with a deleted that. Underline the that clause and confirm your answer by inserting that at the beginning of the clause.
We decided we should call a taxi.
We decided that we should call a taxi.
1. He claimed he had been working at home all afternoon.
2. I wouldn’t have guessed it would have cost so much.
3. His son showed us he could ride his bicycle without using his hands.
4. We quickly discovered the roads were nearly impassable.
5. I suggest we stay at the airport hotel and fly out in the morning.
6. Did you notice Senator Blather was wearing one brown shoe and one black shoe?
7. They concluded the proposal was going to need a lot more work.
8. The coach told the team they would have to practice much harder.
9. As I have gotten older, I have found I need to take better notes at meetings.
10. The defendant denied he had ever been to Chicago.