Noun Clauses

Begin with a Question Word

Fadila Eka Agmalina (041)

Firyal Aktas Salsabila (043)
In the noun clause, the subject always precedes the verb. This is true
even when a noun clause begins with a question word(where, what,
when, how, who, whom, whose, what, which, and whether)
Example:

s v
I don’t know who lives there.

s v
Please tell me what happened.

s v
Do you know when they arrive?
Sometimes the word order is the same in a question and a noun clause that answers that question. In the
following examples, who is the subject of both the question and the answer.

Questions Noun Clauses

s v
Who lives there?
Who stoles my pen?
Who is at the door?
s v
(a) I don’t know who lives there.
The word order is the same in
(b) I don’t know who stoles your pen.
both the question and the noun
(c) I wonder who is at the door.
clause because who is the subject
in both.
 To change a question into a noun clause, change the question word order (V+S) to statement word order
(S+V) :

Question Noun Clause

v s s v
Who is she? (a) I don’t know who she is.
In (a): She is the subject of the
Who are those women? (b) I don’t know who those
question, so it is placed in front of
Whose house is that? women are.
the verb be in the noun clause.
(c) I wonder whose house that
is.
Noun clause that begin with question word do not contain do, does, or did because they are not
questions even though they begin with a question word. Delete do, does, and did to make it a
statement word order.

Question Noun Clause

What did she say? (a) What she said surprised me. In (a): What she said is
when did you start (b) Could you tell me when you the subject of the
learning english?
started learning english? sentence.
Thank
You!!