311. We have learned that adjective clauses and adverbial clauses are joined to what they modify by some connective. This word also serves to show that the clause it introduces is not independent but dependent.

The noun clause also is introduced by some connecting word. In the sentence, “That you have wronged me doth appear in this,” the first word that could be placed nowhere in the clause except at the beginning, and it reveals at once that the clause it introduces is dependent.

312. The introductory word of a noun clause may be several parts of speech:

(1) The subordinating conjunctions if, that, and whether.

Go and see if your father is coming home.

I believe that all men are created free and equal.

I do not know whether Mary is a suffragist or a suffragette.

Often the connective that is omitted; as, “You said you were coming home early,” “David thought Dora was an angel.”

(2) The interrogative pronouns who, whose, whom, which, what.

Nobody knows who first wrote the story of little Red Riding Hood.

Can you tell whose picture this is?

We cannot tell whom the baby looks like.

Have you heard which came out ahead?

Tell me what you like, and I will tell you what you are.

In sentences of this sort the interrogative pronoun is not used in a direct question, but always when a noun clause is introduced by an interrogative pronoun there is an indirect, or implied question. Make a direct question out of each of the noun clauses above.

The interrogative pronoun always has a use in the noun clause that it introduces, just as the relative pronoun has a use in the adjective clause. What is the use of each interrogative pronoun in the preceding sentences?

(3) The relative pronoun what. This pronoun is always equivalent to the two words that which, and there is no question implied in a noun clause introduced by this pronoun.

What Martha told me about the will did not surprise me.

Getting dinner is what takes most of my time.

(4) The indefinite pronouns whoever, whichever, whatever, etc.

Whoever came was made welcome.

Take whichever you like.

Whatever is, is right.

What is the use of each noun clause in these sentences? What is the use in the clause of each indefinite pronoun?

(5) The conjunctive adverbs when, where, why, how, whither, etc.

Do you know when the steamer sails?

I cannot remember where I put my spectacles.

Can you tell why he never wears a muffler?

I never understood how the purse was returned.

It is strange how the memory clings to some things.

Who knows whither the clouds have fled?

The adverb introducing a noun clause modifies some word within the clause, usually the verb.

Summary.—The noun clause may be introduced by (1) a subordinate conjunction, (2) an interrogative pronoun, (3) the relative pronoun what, (4) an indefinite pronoun, (5) a conjunctive adverb.

Exercise.—Select all the noun clauses, and tell the use of each in the sentence. Tell the introductory word of each clause, and its use in the clause.

1. What disgusted them still more was that Bluebeard had already been married several times, and no one knew what had become of his wives.

2. Ernest was always ready to believe in whatever seemed beautiful and good.

3. We asked the boatman why he did not speak Gaelic to his dog as well as to his family.

4. Whoever has been hypnotized by a book agent will understand how mother felt about the spectacles that she bought and could not wear.

5. I wonder if Burbank ever really produced a deodorized onion.

6. Shakespeare’s chair stands in the chimney nook of a small gloomy chamber, just behind what was his father’s shop.

7. Whatever was iron or brass in other houses was silver or gold in this.

8. The apothecary listened as calmly as he could to the story of how Mrs. Peterkin had put salt in her coffee.

9. The lady from Philadelphia asked where the milk was kept.

10. Fortunately, what God expects of us is not the best, but our best.

11. Why this spot was selected for a mansion was always a mystery, unless it was that the newcomer desired to isolate himself completely.

12. Whether the Indians were not early risers, or whether they were away just then on a warpath I couldn’t determine.

13. What passes for laziness in a boy is very often an unwillingness to farm in a particular way.

14. The direction of a man’s life follows the unseen influence of what he admires and loves and believes in.

15. Her only noteworthy achievement was that she had named her twin sons Marquis de Lafayette Randall and Lorenzo de Medici Randall.

16. I wonder who could describe those wonderful coral gardens on which we gazed through twenty fathoms of crystal water.