Kurdistan Regional Government/Iraq

Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research

University of Raparin
College of Education
Department of English Language (evening classes)

THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT SENIOR’S AWARENESS OF THE

RECOGNITION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF NOMINAL CLAUSES

A PAPER
SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH / COLLEGE OF EDUCATION IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR
OF EDUCATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

By:
Truska Khdir Rasul
Mahdi Abubakir Hama
Idris Shero Ibrahim

Supervised by:
Asst. Prof. Dr. Salih Ibrahim Ahmed

(April, 2023)
 Declaration
We, as our names and signatures are stated below, hereby, confirm that this
graduation research entitled “THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT SENIOR’S
AWARENESS OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF NOMINAL
CLAUSES” is all our original work. Except for the quotes referenced, all the
writings and results of the research are our independent work. We have not published
it anywhere before and have not submitted it anywhere to receive a certificate.
Moreover, we acknowledge that we have cited all the sources used in the research.

Signature:

Student name: Truska Khdir Rasul, Mahdi Abubakir Hama & Idris Shero Ibrahim

Date: / / 20
 SUPERVISOR`S DECISION
I, who supervised this research under the title “THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
SENIOR’S AWARENESS OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF
NOMINAL CLAUSES” was prepared by (Truska Khdir Rasul, Mahdi Abubakir
Hama & Idris Shero Ibrahim), which has been submitted on / /2023 at University
of Raparin / college of Education, Department of English, after reading the research
, would require to be forwarded to the Discussion Committee.
Signature:

Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Salih Ibrahim Ahmed

Title: “THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT SENIOR’S AWARENESS OF THE

RECOGNITION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF NOMINAL CLAUSES”

Date: / / 2023

HEAD OF DEPARTMEN`S DECISION

In the light of the supervisor`s request, this research entitled “THE ENGLISH
DEPARTMENT SENIOR’S AWARENESS OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE
FUNCTIONS OF NOMINAL CLAUSES“ by (Truska Khdir Rasul, Mahdi
Abubakir Hama & Idris Shero Ibrahim) which has been submitted on ( / / 2023), at
University of Raparin / College of Education, Department of English.
I would request to be forwarded to the Discussion Committee.

Signature:

Title: “THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT SENIOR’S AWARENESS OF THE

RECOGNITION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF NOMINAL CLAUSES”

Date: / /2023
 DISCUSSION COMMITTEE DICISION

This research paper, which is entitled “THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT SENIOR’S

AWARENESS OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF NOMINAL
CLAUSES” prepared by (Truska Khdir Rasul, Mahdi Abubakir Hama & Idris Shero
Ibrahim), has been discussed by the committee and we have all signed it below on (
/ / 2023).

Signature: Signature:

Member: Member:

Date: / /2023 Date: / /2023

Signature:

Head of Committee:

Title: “THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT SENIOR’S AWARENESS OF THE

RECOGNITION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF NOMINAL CLAUSES”

Date: / /2023

Committee notes:
 Dedication

To our parents,
To our siblings,
To our supervisor,
To university of Raparin.

I
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Praise be to Allah for the strength and blessing in completing this thesis. Many
thanks to all those who helped us in doing our paper. Also, many thanks to our
families who always supported and helped us.

II
 ABSTRACT

This research paper explores nominal clauses in English. Nominal clauses are
dependent clauses and simply function as nouns and are able to have all noun
functions. This research paper is divided into four chapters. In chapter one we give
readers general knowledge about our research paper for example aims, hypotheses,
significance and finally the scope of the research. In chapter two, we present
information about defining nominal clauses in the English grammar and defining
types of nominal clause and defining important functions of nominal clauses. In
chapter three, we try to share information about methodology. Finally, in chapter
four, we explain detailed information and data about our test by discussing the
results. The results showed that recognizing nominal clauses and functions are
somehow different. We can see that morning students at English department did
better about recognizing functions of nominal clauses.

III
 CONTENTS

Dedication..........................................................................................................Ⅰ
Acknowledgements...........................................................................................ⅠⅠ
Abstract.............................................................................................................ⅠⅠⅠ
Contents.............................................................................................................Ⅳ
Chapter One: Introduction..............................................................................1
1.1 The Aim of the Paper....................................................................................1
1.2 The Research Questions................................................................................1
1.3 The Hypothesis........................................................................................ .....1
1.4 The Procedures...............................................................................................2
1.5 The Significance of the Paper.........................................................................2
1.6 The Scope of the Paper...................................................................................2
Chapter Two: Theoretical Background and Literature Review....................3
2.1 An Introduction to Nominal Clauses...............................................................3
2.2 Types of Nominal Clauses...............................................................................4
2.2.1 that-clause............................................................................................4
2.2.2 wh-clause.............................................................................................4
2.2.3 to-Infinitive clause...............................................................................5
2.3 The Functions of Nominal Clauses...................................................................5
2.3.1 Nominal Clause as Subject...................................................................6
2.3.2 Nominal Clause as Object....................................................................7
2.4 Literature Review...............................................................................................8
Chapter Three: Methodology...............................................................................11
3.1 Participants........................................................................................................11
3.2 Setting................................................................................................................11
3.3 Instruments........................................................................................................11

IV
3.4 Data Collection...............................................................................................11
3.5 Data Analysis..................................................................................................12
Chapter Four: Results and Discussion..............................................................13
4.1 Results.............................................................................................................13
4.2 Discussion.......................................................................................................13
Conclusion............................................................................................................15
References............................................................................................................16

V
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Aim of the Paper

The main aim of this research paper is investigating and explaining nominal clauses
which is a very important topic in grammar. Also, this research paper aims to know
the level of English department students in college of education at university of
Raparin about their knowledge of nominal clause function.

1.2 The Research Questions

By doing this research paper, we try to find answer of these questions:

-How much is level of students of college of education/English department at

Raparin university about nominal clauses?

-What is the most difficult function of nominal clauses to recognize by students?

1.3 The Hypothesis

Our topic in this research paper is awareness of English department fourth year
students’ awareness of recognizing the functions of nominal clauses. The most
important hypothesis is that fourth year morning students expected being more
aware and clever in recognizing the functions of nominal clauses.

1
1.4 The Procedures

A test was prepared and done by us in morning and evening classes of English
department-college of education-university of Raparin on fourth year students.
Students were given a test form consisted of 10 questions (6 multiple choice and 4
underline). We showed the form to our supervisor before giving it to participants.
And after that, we evaluated final results and discussed them in chapter four.

1.5 The Significance of the Paper

The main significance of this research paper is that all teachers and students can
use it to increase knowledge of nominal clauses and teachers in English
departments can be aware of the students’ level in nominal clauses and functions.

1.6 The Scope of the Paper

In writing this research paper we try to talk about nominal clause and these
functions in a special scope and way. We only talk and explain the functions
nominal clauses in detail.

2
 CHAPTER TWO
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 An Introduction to Nominal Clauses
Clauses are grammatical elements which typically contain a subject and a
predicate. In English, there are different distinctions for clauses in general depending
on whether they are superordinate or subordinate, one of the essential clauses in
English is what is called a nominal clause (Haroon, 2019). Paulis (2021) defines a
nominal clause as a clause which is dependent and normally functions as a noun
within a sentence. Also, Drancak (2019) extends the definition by defining nominal
clauses as a group of words with a conjugated verb that functions as a noun in a
sentence. Furthermore, nominal clauses are frequently known as noun clauses since
they are able to perform all the functions of a noun in a sentence (Paulis, 2021). It
means that nominal clauses can function as a subject, object, and complement which
is explained in detail in the following sections of this chapter. Generally, nominal
clauses begin with words such as that, the fact that, whether, when, whoever, etc.
(Stageberg, 1999). In following examples, the nominal clauses are italicized which
are that it will never happen (1), what he had heard (2), and whoever stole my bag
(3). As defined previously, it is shown that all the nominal clauses in the following
sentences contain a subject and a predicate.

1. We believe that it will never happen.

2. The boy was shocked by what he had heard.

3. Whoever stole my bag must be punished.

3
2.2 Types of Nominal Clauses
In English, there are different types of nominal clauses mentioned by the authors
and researchers. In general, there are approximately three primary and common
types of nominal (noun) clauses which nearly all of the authors agree upon and have
explained. The three main types are that-clause, wh-clause, and to-infinitive clause,
and these types are focused on in the following sections.

2.2.1 that-clause
It is the first main type of nominal clauses, which is also one of the most
commonly used types is that-clause. As the name tells us, it is a type of nominal
clause which starts with the word ‘that’. Crystal (2008) indicates that this type of
nominal clause ‘that-clause’ is considered as the most common type of nominal
clause used by people while speaking. The sentences (4) and (5) below include that-
nominal clauses that it was all a lie and that the match had been postponed, which
contain ‘that’ at the beginning of the clause.

4. They told me that it was all a lie.

5. It was announced that the match had been postponed.

2.2.2 wh-clause
The second type of clauses which can function as a noun (nominal) clause are
wh-clauses. The wh-clauses are clauses which simply start with wh-words such as
who, which, when, where, etc. and these types of clauses are classified under
subordinate (dependent) clauses, meaning that they cannot stand alone as a complete
and meaningful sentence (Trotta, 2016). Also, wh-clauses which function as nominal
clauses can occur at the beginning and middle of the sentences.

4
6. What you need to do is to read the questions carefully.

7. I am going to reward whoever participated in the seminar.

The two sentences above contain wh-clauses which function as nominal clauses. In
sentence (6), what you need to do is the wh-nominal clause, while in sentence (7)
whoever participated in the seminar functions as the nominal clause in the sentence.

2.2.3 to-infinitive clause

Another type of clauses which can function as nominal clauses are to-infinitive
clauses (clauses that begin with ‘to’). Crystal (2008) defines a to-infinitive clause as
a clause whose verb is in the form of infinitive, it means that no suffix is attached to
the verb and is preceded by ‘to’. In sentence (8), the to-infinitive clause to smoke, in
sentence (9), to drink while eating, and in sentence (10), to answer his call are
clauses that function as nominal clauses and perform the functions of a noun.

8. To smoke is dangerous.

9. To drink while eating is not healthy.

10. For me, to answer his call was important.

2.3 The Functions of Nominal Clauses

It was mentioned in the previous sections that nouns simply can perform several
functions in sentences. First, nouns are words that represent a person, idea, object,
place, etc. in a sentence (Kaufman and Straus, 2014). Nominal clauses are
subordinate (dependent) clauses that could replace nouns in sentences, so nominal
clauses can be substituted for nouns and they can have all the functions which a noun

5
can perform (Kennedy, 2014). The most important functions which nominal clauses
can perform in the place of nouns are mentioned and explained in the following
sections, which are subject, objet, and complement, etc.

2.3.1 Nominal Clause as Subject

One of the most essential functions which nominal clauses can perform is the
function of the subject in the sentence. Greenbaum and Quirk (1990) define a subject
as any noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that performs the action. It means that the
subject is the doer of the action in the sentence. Thus nominal clauses have the ability
of functioning as subject in different sentences (Paulis, 2021). For example, in the
below three sentences (11,12, 13), the nominal clauses Whoever drank my tea, That
the teacher delayed the lesson, and How you will pass the exam perform the function
of subject as they are directly followed by the verbs will pay, annoys, and makes. It
follows that nominal clauses can function as subject in so many other sentences, and
it is very common while speaking.

11. Whoever drank my tea will pay the money.

12. That the teacher delayed the lesson annoys us.

13. How you will pass the exam makes me hopeless.

Additionally, nominal clauses can also function as subject complements once they
follow a copula (linking) verb (Strumpf and Douglas, 2004). The italicized nominal
clauses in the following examples follow linking verbs (linking verbs are
underlined).

14. The fear was that you will never get your money back.

15. My question is whether you will repeat the lecture.

6
 2.3.2 Nominal Clause as Object
The second important function which nominal clauses can perform in sentences
is that of object. The object similar to subject is one of the primary elements in
constructing sentences. Like a subject, the object could be a noun, noun phrase, or
pronoun which is affected by the verb in the sentence (Greenbaum&Quirk, 1990).
Also, nominal clauses can replace nouns in sentences when they function as the
object whether they function as a direct object or an indirect object (Kaufman and
Straus, 2014). In the following examples (16, 17), the nominal clauses whatever we
tell him and whoever visits them which are wh-nominal clauses functioning as direct
objects since they are directly affected by the verbs of the sentences.

16. Ali always refuses whatever we tell him.

17. They welcome whoever visits them.

Moreover, nominal clauses can also perform the function of indirect objects in the
sentence, meaning that they can be indirectly affected by the action. For example,
sentences (18, 19) include nominal clauses what you said and that I want my own
house which are indirectly under the effect of verbs: will make and gave, so they are
called indirect object.

18. The director will make what you said some changes.

19. My father gave that I want my own house enough thought.

According to Strumpf and Douglas (2004) nominal clauses can also function as
object complements. It means that they can directly follow the direct object in the
sentence and modify it. For example, in sentences (20, 21) nominal clauses whatever
you want and that she didn’t go to school follow the direct objects me and her biggest
mistake, hence they function as object complements.

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20. You can tell me whatever you want.

21. My sister considers her biggest mistake that she didn’t go to school.

The last function of a nominal clause that we discuss is the prepositional object,
sometimes it is called object of preposition. A prepositional object is the noun, noun
phrase, clause or pronoun which the preposition describes (Crystal, 2008). It is seen
in the following examples that the italicized nominal clauses directly follow the
prepositions and complete the meaning of the prepositional phrases.

22. Some people believe in whatever they are told.

23. The guests didn’t think about that I need to study.

2.4 Literature Review

Since the ‘nominal clause’ topic is considered as one of the most essential and
basic grammar subjects, this topic has always received a lot of attention by
grammarians and linguists. Thus, numerous studies can be found related to that
topic. A study conducted by Said (2014). The purpose of the study was to point out
how the university students perform in cases related to the formation and
organization of the nominal clauses in different contexts, and the study made use of
the experimental method. The total number of students who participated in the study
was 50 students in the academic year 2013-2014. In this study, there were both oral
and written questions directed to the students concerning nominal clauses and their
functions. Also, the researcher evaluated the students’ performance in making
nominal clauses and realizing the functions on a scale starting from ‘very poor’ to
‘excellent’. The results of the study showed that the university students have
difficulties in forming and arranging various types of nominal clauses in sentences
especially while speaking (oral). Concerning the functions of nominal clauses, it was

8
shown that almost all of the students have problem in marking specific functions of
nominal clauses particularly with complement functions.

Kusumadwei (2017) conducted one of the studies related to the nominal clauses
and the university students’ difficulties in constructing nominal clauses. The main
purpose of this study was to find out the most common problems and difficulties
which the university students may face while constructing different types of nominal
clauses. Also, the study used qualitative method. The data for this study were
gathered by giving the third year university students at Indraprasta PGRI University
a prepared test to fifteen (15) students of English Education Department. The
questions in the test required the students to choose the correct form of constructing
nominal clauses out of the two choices they were given for each question. Also, the
questions were classified into four types of nominal clauses which are that-clause,
nominal clauses beginning with wh-words, to-infinitive, and nominal clauses
beginning with if and whether. According to the results of study, it was clarified that
the participants had difficulties in constructing various types of nominal clauses,
especially with nominal clauses beginning with wh-words. Their biggest failure was
in ordering the sentence elements including nominal clauses.

In addition to the previous studies conducted on that particular area, another

study conducted on this topic by Bochari, Basri, and Arid (2019). The primary
purpose of the study was to find out to what extend the students were able to form
and place nominal clauses correctly in sentences, especially in complex sentences.
Also, another aim of the study was to evaluate the students’ ability in realizing
different nominal clause functions. The study used descriptive qualitative method,
in other words, it describes the way things are. The participants of the study were
the fourth year (senior) students at Tadulako University who studied English
Language Program. The data in the study were collected through giving a written

9
test to 49 students, asking them to form and organize nominal clauses. The results
showed that the most common type of mistake made by the participants in making
nominal clauses is omission, meaning they have problems in reducing parts of words
such as ‘suffix-s’ as plural marker on nouns or as the present marker on verbs.
Furthermore, it was shown from the results of the study that students struggled in
marking the functions of nominal clauses, particularly when the nominal clauses
function as complement or prepositional object.

10
 CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Participants

The participants of this study were the fourth-year English department students at
college of education/ Raparin university (academic year 2022-2023). Thirty students
participated in the test: 15 from morning and 15 form evening classes including 20
females 10 males.

3.2 Setting

The place of doing the research is college of education / Raparin University.

3.3 Instruments

The instrument of this study is a test which consists of ten questions; there are two
type questions. The first type consists of six multiple-choice items. In the last four
questions, the participants are required to underline the nominal clauses in the
sentences.

3.4 Data Collection

Data collection is the process of gathering and collecting information for research
purposes. The process of collecting data was done face-to-face at the College of
Education/ University of Raparin. We handed the test paper sheets to thirty (30)
fourth year students at English department. In the beginning, the test purpose and
the main aim were explained to the students and appreciated their participation.

11
3.5 Data Analysis

The data for this research paper were collected by using both qualitative and
quantitative methods together. The qualitative method used to interpret and explain
the specific topic in this study which is the fourth year English department students’
awareness of the functions of nominal clauses. The quantitative method used to
arrange and organize the data, for example the number of the correct answers. We
analyzed the students’ answers in a descriptive way, meaning that we did not express
our opinions.

12
 CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Results
There are some results of the test that we did on the fourth year students of English
department at college of education. Thirty (30) students participated in the test
fifteen (15) from morning classes and fifteen (15) from evening class. There were
ten questions in the test and it was out of ten marks. After doing the questionnaire,
we saw that the morning and evening classes were nearly similar, but not exactly in
the results. In the morning classes, 11 students passed the test which means they got
five marks or higher out of ten. In the evening classes, 8 students passed in the test
and 7 students couldn’t pass. According these results, in the morning classes, nearly
73% of the students passed in the test, while in the evening class nearly half of the
students passed 53%. The questions in the test were the same for both classes. In the
table below, we can see the final results of the test in morning and evening classes.

class Morning Evening

participants 15 15

Passed 11 8

Failed 4 7

Percentage of those who 73% 53%

passed

4.2 Discussion
We gave the test papers to students at college of education/department of English.
30 students participated in the test and the results tell us that the morning class
students have had better results about recognizing nominal clauses in sentences and

13
choosing the correct functions for nominal clause. Now, we talk about the number
of students that answered correctly in different functions of nominal clauses. In
(Subject) function, most of the students passed which is 90% of participants because
it is easier to find subject function which always comes at the beginning of sentences.
In choosing (Object) function, 23 students were able to choose the correct answer
which is the highest number behind subject function. It means 76% of the students
were able to recognize direct object and indirect object function of nominal clauses.
After that, 20 participants were able to recognize the function of (Subject
Complement). What is important to mention here is that there is a big difference
because 15 students of morning classes answered correctly in choosing subject
complement function, and only 5 students in the evening class were able to recognize
the subject complement function of nominal clauses. About Object Complement, 15
students were able to recognize this function of nominal clauses which means 50%
of the participants selected object complement function. We see that most of the
students were able to recognize (Subject) function of nominal clauses which means
it is the easiest one to find by students. The most difficult function of nominal clauses
by students seems to be (Object of Preposition or Prepositional Object). The results
show that only 8 students were able to recognize the object of preposition function
in nominal clauses, in these 8 students 4 from morning class and 4 from evening
class. About percentage, nearly only 26% of the students passed in selecting and
recognizing this function of nominal clauses which is object of preposition or
prepositional object. In hypothesis, we explained that fourth year students expected
to be very aware of nominal Clause functions, by doing the test we see that fourth
year students are not totally aware of the functions and also they can’t easily choose
correct function for nominal clauses.

14
 CONCLUSION

The focus in this research paper is on nominal clauses in the English and their
functions. Nominal clauses are really important in grammar and they have able to
have many function. It explained in the research that nominal clauses could be
function as nouns and they take all functions of nouns in different sentences. We
said in this research paper there is different types of nominal clauses and we talked
about three most important in them (that-clause, wh-clause, to-infinitive clause).
Nominal clause can have different functions in the sentence, for example function
as subject, subject compliment, direct object, object complement, object of
preposition. We can see that morning students at English department are a little
better about recognizing the functions of nominal clauses if we compare them to
evening students at college of education/university of Raparin.

15
 REFERENCES

BOCHARI, S. & BASRI, H. & ARID, M. (2019). The Student's Error in Forming

Nominal Clause in Complex Sentence.

CRYSTAL, D. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (sixth edition).

Oxford: Blackwell.

DRANCAK, E. (2019). Characteristics of Nominal Clauses in Spoken and Written

English.

GREENBAUM, S. & QUIRK, R. (1990). A Student's Grammar of the English

Language.

HAROON, S. (2019. Basic English Language: Phrase, Clause and Sentence.

Independently published.

KAUFMAN, L. STRAUS, J. (2014). The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation:

An Easy-to-Use Guide with Clear Rules, Real-World Examples, and

Reproducible Quizzes (eleventh Edition). Wiley Publisher.

KENNEDY, G. (2014). An Introduction to Corpus Linguistics

KUSUMADWEI, H. (2017). Analysis of Students' Error in Constructing Nominal

Clause.

PAULIS, M. (2021). Nominal Clauses. Online (reasearchgate.net)

STAGEBERG, N. (1999). An Introductory English Grammar fifth edition.

Wadsworth Publishing.

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STRUMPF, M. & DOUGLAS, A. (2004). The Grammar Bible: Everything You

Always Wanted to Know About Grammar. Publish St Martin's Press.

TROTTA, J. (2016). Wh-Clauses in English Language. Wiley Publisher.

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