Identifying Noun Clauses and Their Functions

Identify each noun clause in the following sentences, and tell whether it is a subject, a
direct object, an indirect object, a predicate nominative, or an object of a preposition.
1. How students can apply for college loans was the speaker’s topic.
2. My suggestion is that we all meet again tomorrow.
3. I wonder whether Columbus was truly the first European to explore the
Americas.
4. Mrs. Romero offers whoever completes additional assignments extra credit.
5. Tawana will do well at whatever she attempts.
6. I think Mr. Pei is one of the judges of the design contest.
7. Did you know the actor James Earl Jones was once a pre-med student?
8. Judy’s father expected her to finish her homework.
9. Do you know what the word serendipity means?
10. My finances don’t quite allow me to live in style; in fact, I’m completely broke!
11. Do you know what the referee says to the opponents at the start of a boxing
match?
12. Through scientific research, psychologists have learned that everyone dreams
during sleep.
13. Scientists disagree about why dinosaurs died out.
14. Sometimes I am amused and sometimes I am amazed by what I read in the
newspaper’s advice column.
15. What I like most about Harriet is that she never complains.
16. What the dancers Agnes de Mille and Martha Graham created was a new form
of American dance.
17. Can you please tell me where the Museum of African Art is located and when it
opens?
18. The radio station will give whoever can answer the next question one hundred
dollars.
19. I don’t know how they decided who would be the leader.
 Distinguishing Between Adjective and Noun Clauses
Identify the subordinate clause or clauses in each of the following sentences. Tell
whether each subordinate clause is used as an adjective or a noun. Tell what word
each adjective clause modifies and whether each noun clause is a subject, a predicate
nominative, a direct object, an indirect object, or an object of a preposition.
1. According to Dr. Athelstan Spilhaus, children are not the only ones who enjoy
playing with toys.
2. Did you think that only children enjoy playing with toys?
3. Dr. Spilhaus found that toys are not meant only for children.
4. Some of the toys that he collected were simply to be admired; his favorites
were those that could be put into action.
5. Some of his collectibles were put into “intensive care,” where he skillfully
replaced parts that had been damaged or lost.
6. Dr. Spilhaus said that a toy is anything that gives us a chance to stop and
refresh ourselves during our hectic lives.
7. I have read that many mechanical principles were first applied to playthings.
8. For example, the toy monkey shown here is activated by squeezing a rubber
bulb that uses the same basic principle as the jackhammer that digs up our streets.
9. Only those who have lost touch with childhood question what a toy can be
worth to a young boy or girl.
10. Ask someone who knows toys what their enchantment is worth.