NOUN CLAUSE & CONJUNCTION

NOUN CLAUSE

A noun clause can be used like a noun. It can be a subject, predicate nominative, direct object, appositive, indirect object, or object of the preposition. Some of the English words that introduce noun clauses are that, whether, who, why, whom, what, how, when, whoever, where, and whomever. Notice that some of these words also introduce adjective and adverbial clauses. A clause is a noun clause if a pronoun (he, she, it, or they) could be substituted for it.

Examples:

• I know who said that. (I know it.) (The dependent clause serves as the object of the main-clause verb "know".)
• Whoever made that assertion is wrong. (He/she is wrong.) (The dependent clause serves as the subject of the main clause.)

Sometimes in English a noun clause is used without the introductory word.

Example:

• I know that he is here.
• I know he is here. (without "that")

In some cases, use of the introductory word, though grammatically correct, may sound cumbersome in English, and the introductory word may be omitted.

Example:

• I think that it is pretty. (less common)
• I think it is pretty. (more common)

Exercise

1.       Last week, our cat gave birth to a litter of kittens, but we didn't know where________.
a. is our cat
b. our cat was
c. our cat is
d. was our cat

2.        Now, our cat is home again, and we can't believe how many _______________.
a. kittens does she have
b. kittens has she
c. she has kittens
d. kittens she has

3.        Can you imagine ________ ?
a. how cute they are
b. how cute are they
c. how they are cute
d. are they cute

4.        The kittens are so noisy that I can hardly hear what ________ .
a. are saying you
b. that you are saying
c. are saying you
d. you are saying

5.        My husband said __________ try to keep them all.
a. don't we
b. that shouldn't we
c. that we shouldn't
d. that we don't

Answer

1.      B

2.      D

3.      A

4.      D

5.      C

Conjunction (grammar)

In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated CONJ or CNJ) is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each language. In general, a conjunction is an invariable grammatical particle, and it may or may not stand between the items it conjoins.

The definition may also be extended to idiomatic phrases that behave as a unit with the same function as a single-word conjunction (as well as, provided that, etc.).

Many students are taught that certain conjunctions (such as "and", "but", and "so") should not begin sentences, although authorities such as the Chicago Manual of Style proclaim that this teaching has "no historical or grammatical foundation".

Coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions, also called coordinators, are conjunctions that join two or more items of equal syntactic importance, such as words, main clauses, or sentences. In English the mnemonic acronym FANBOYS can be used to remember the coordinators for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. These are not the only coordinating conjunctions; various others are used, including "and nor" (British), "but nor" (British), "or nor" (British), "neither" ("They don't gamble; neither do they smoke"), "no more" ("They don't gamble; no more do they smoke"), and "only" ("I would go, only I don't have time").

Here are some examples of coordinating conjunctions in English and what they do:

• For presents a reason ("He is gambling with his health, for he has been smoking far too long.").
• And presents non-contrasting item(s) or idea(s) ("They gamble, and they smoke.").
• Nor presents a non-contrasting negative idea ("They do not gamble, nor do they smoke.").
• But presents a contrast or exception ("They gamble, but they don't smoke.").
• Or presents an alternative item or idea ("Every day, they gamble or they smoke.").
• Yet presents a contrast or exception ("They gamble, yet they don't smoke.").
• So presents a consequence ("He gambled well last night, so he smoked a cigar to celebrate.").

Correlative conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to join words and groups of words of equal weight in a sentence. There are six different pairs of correlative conjunctions:

1) either...or

2) not only...but also

3) neither...nor (or increasingly neither...or)

4) both...and

5) whether...or

6) just as...so

Examples:

• You either do your work or prepare for a trip to the office.
• Not only is he handsome, but he is also brilliant.
• Neither the basketball team nor the football team is doing well.
• Both the cross country team and the swimming team are doing well.
• Whether you stay or go is your decision.
• Just as many Americans love football, so many Canadians love ice hockey.

Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions, also called subordinators, are conjunctions that conjoin an independent clause and a dependent clause. The most common subordinating conjunctions in the English language include after, although, as, as far as, as if, as long as, as soon as, as though, because, before, if, in order that, since, so, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, whereas, wherever, and while. Complementizers can be considered to be special subordinating conjunctions that introduce complement clauses (e.g., "I wonder whether he'll be late. I hope that he'll be on time"). Some subordinating conjunctions (until and while), when used to introduce a phrase instead of a full clause, become prepositions with identical meanings.

In many verb-final languages, subordinate clauses must precede the main clause on which they depend. The equivalents to the subordinating conjunctions of non-verb-final languages such as English are either

• clause-final conjunctions (e.g. in Japanese), or
• suffixes attached to the verb and not separate words

Such languages in fact often lack conjunctions as a part of speech because:

1. the form of the verb used is formally nominalised and cannot occur in an independent clause
2. the clause-final conjunction or suffix attached to the verb is actually formally a marker of case and is also used on nouns to indicate certain functions. In this sense, the subordinate clauses of these languages have much in common with postpositional phrases.

In other West-Germanic languages like German or Dutch, the word order after a subordinating conjunction is different from the one in an independent clause, e.g. in Dutch want (for) is coordinating, but omdat (because) is subordinating. The clause after the coordinating conjunction has normal word order, but the clause after the subordinating conjunction has verb-final word order. Compare:

Hij gaat naar huis, want hij is ziek. ("He goes home, for he is ill.")

Hij gaat naar huis, omdat hij ziek is. ("He goes home because he is ill.")

Similarly, in German, "denn" (for) is coordinating, but "weil" (because) is subordinating:

Er geht nach Hause, denn er ist krank. ("He goes home, for he is ill.")

Er geht nach Hause, weil er krank ist. ("He goes home because he is ill.")

EXERCISE

1.      Receptionists must be able to relay information ______ pass messages accurately.

(A) or

(B) and

(C) but

(D) because

2.      I did not go to the show ______ I had already seen it.

(A) until

(B) because

(C) so

(D) but                  

3.      Mary is a member of the Historical Society ______ the Literary Society.     (A) as

(B) or

(C) and

(D) but

4.      Read over your answers ______ correct all mistakes before you pass them up. (A) or

(B) and

(C) because

(D) while                  

5.      Keep the food covered ______ the flies will contaminate it.

(A) or

(B) and

(C) until

(D) though

 

ANSWER

1B    2B    3C    4B    5A

Source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_%28grammar%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_clause#Noun_clause