Analyzing subordinate clauses

Question

Noun Clause - where the clause acts as a noun.

She told him what she thought. (thought is a concept so it is a noun? 2 subordinate clauses? what is a relative pronoun?)

What's right and what's wrong (right and wrong are concepts so they are nouns? 2 subordinate clauses joined by the conjunction and?) are the questions at the heart of true civilisation.

I told him that Judy was coming. (Judy is a name so a noun? 2 subordinate clauses? that is a relative pronoun?)

Adjectival Clause - where the clause acts as an adjective.

This is the door that won't close properly. (properly is the adjective? 2 subordinate clauses? that is a relative pronoun?)

The parcel that's just arrived is for you. (arrived is the adjective? 2 subordinate clauses?)

London is the place which offers the greatest opportunities. (greatest is the adjective? which is a relative pronoun? 2 subordinate clauses?)

Adverbial Clause - where the clause acts as an adverb.

You should go there before the shops open. (before is the adverb? 2 subordinate clauses?)

Because it began to rain I had to buy an umbrealla. (began is the adverb? 1 subordinate clause and 1 main clause?

We were quite upset when John came in. (Came is the adverb? 2 subordinate clauses?)

Any tips where Iv'e gone right and wrong are appreciated. Also any further analysis to help me better understand subordinate clauses and Nouns, Pronouns, adjectives and adverbs in relation to the subordinate clauses above is also appreciated as I am just starting out on grammar. Many thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

You have a lot of questions, and you do not have a good grasp at all of the basic idea here.

Let's begin by just looking at Adjectival Clauses - where the clause acts as an adjective.

This is the door that won't close.

There are two clauses here.

This is the door is called a main or independent clause. It makes sense as a sentence by itself.

that won't close is a subordinate clause. It does not make sense if you say it by itself. People will just say 'Huh? What are you talking about?'

The subordinate clause describes the door. ie it gives us information about the door. The whole clause is like a kind of adjective. But notice that, in this example, there is no need for an actual adjective.

that is a relative pronoun that joins the subordinate clause to the main clause. It shows that we are referring to 'the door'.

Do you have any questions about this, so far?

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

This has nothing to do with what is a concept and what is a name and so on.
A clause has a verb. The verbs within clauses are shown in blue below.

Saying "acts as" is like saying "can substitute for".

Noun Clause - A noun clause [acts as / can substitute for] a noun.
Adjectival Clause - An adjectival clause [acts as / can substitute for] an adjective.
Adverbial Clause - An adverbial clause [acts as / can substitute for] an adverb.

Noun - Answers the question Who? or What?

What did she tell him?
She told him | a lie. noun

She told him | the whole story. noun

She told him | what she thought. noun clause (verb)

What are the questions at the heart of true civilisation?
This question and that question | are the questions at the heart of true civilisation. nouns

What's right and what's wrong | are the questions at the heart of true civilisation. noun clauses ('s)

What did you tell him?
I told him | the truth. noun

I told him | the right answer. noun

I told him | that Judy was coming. noun clause (verb)

I leave it to you to work out the substitutions for adjectives and adverbs using the model I've given here for the nouns and noun clauses. Adjectives generally answer the question What kind of? Adverbs generally answer the question How? or When? or Where?

CJ

Jamez101 · Answer

You say the whole subordinate clause is kind of like an adjective. Does that mean it would be referred to as an adjectival clause? Even though there is no actual adjective?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Yes, that's correct.

eg Tom has a friend who lives in China.

There is no adjective here, but the clause describes the friend.

Of course, there can also be an adjective if that's what you want to say.

eg Tom has a car which is red.

Any other questions? Please ask.

If not, would you like to try to write a few sentences that contain a main clause and an adjectival clause?

Clive

Jamez101 · Answer

Noun - Answers the question Who? or What?

What did she tell him?

She told him | a lie. noun - is lie the noun? or 'a lie' a noun clause? and are clauses seperated by | here? and if so is told a verb as you say clauses have a verb?

She told him | the whole story. noun - is story the noun? or is 'the whole story' a noun clause? if so what is the verb here?

She told him | what she thought. noun clause (verb)

What are the questions at the heart of true civilisation?

This question and that question | are the questions at the heart of true civilisation. nouns

What's right and what's wrong | are the questions at the heart of true civilisation. noun clauses ('s) - why is the apostrophe s highlighted in blue here?

What did you tell him?

I told him | the truth. noun

I told him | the right answer. noun

I told him | that Judy was coming. noun clause (verb)

why is 'was coming' the verb and not just coming on it's own?

CalifJim · Answer

jamez101why is 'was coming' the verb and not just coming on it's own?

was is the helping verb that puts the verb come in the past progressive tense, so was coming is the full verb form.

CJ

Jamez101 · Answer

What did she tell him?

She told him | a lie. noun

She told him | the whole story. noun

She told him | what she thought. noun clause (verb)

Are lie and whole story the subjects so they are nouns? Also you say thought is a verb - if it is a verb how is it a noun clause? Can a word be a verb and function as a noun?

CalifJim · Answer

jamez101Are lie and whole story the subjects so they are nouns?

No. They aren't subjects. They are names of things in the real world, so they are nouns.

jamez101Also you say thought is a verb - if it is a verb how is it a noun clause?

You are confusing a single word with a group of words.

what she thought is a group of words that contains a verb. This kind of word group is called a clause.

thought is just one word. It is the verb that is found inside the clause what she thought.

Sometimes several words together make a verb form, like have bought or has been seen. These are not clauses, however. They are verb phrases. But if you put them together with other words you can build a clause:

that we have bought is a clause that contains the verb phrase have bought.
which has already been seen is a clause that contains the verb phrase has been seen.
_______________

When you can put a clause (a word group that has a verb) in a bigger sentence in the same place that you can put a noun, you have a noun clause.

thought - verb
what she thought - clause (word group with a verb)

She told us what she thought. - sentence with a noun clause (a clause that can act as a noun)

CJ

BaldKingOfFrance · Answer

CalifJim
jamez101Are lie and whole story the subjects so they are nouns?
No. They aren't subjects. They are names of things in the real world, so they are nouns.

Actually, jamez isn't too far off here. Subjects are indeed nouns.

And besides, "noun" isn't a semantic concept. The old "person place or thing" line is just a good rule of thumb. The concept of "noun" is actually morphosyntactic, which means that you can tell a noun partly by what it looks like (morpho-) and where it is in the sentence (syntactic). This goes for all parts of speech.

edit: That said, you are correct CJ: jamez is wrong about those specific examples. They are not subjects. But if jamez properly identified a subject, then he/she would have found a noun.

CalifJim · Answer

BaldKingOfFranceyou can tell a noun partly by what it looks like (morpho-) and where it is in the sentence (syntactic)

You say this can be done, but you don't explain for jamez101 how it is done. jamez101 is asking the question, not me. If you don't mind, could you explain for him what a noun looks like and the places in the sentence where it can be so that he, too, can find nouns in sentences? (He is a bit new to English and has trouble telling a subject from an object, remember, so you might consider using fairly elementary vocabulary.)

Thanks!

CJ

Analyzing subordinate clauses

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