School House Rock - Conjunction Junction (Grammar Rock)

Possible Activities (Noun Clause)

Warm up Exercise One: Choose a verb plus 'that' from the above groups that make sense in these sentences:

Experts __________________ exercise is important for health.
However, a recent  magazine article _________________ Americans do not exercise enough.
Dr. Jones , in a letter to Congress, ________________ a campaign to increase the health of Americans is necessary.
He also _________________ nutrition education in schools must begin in elementary school.
He _____________ every American change his/her lifestyle.

Activity Two: Practicing the verb in the base form in the 'that' clause.

 This can be used as a conversation or writing activity

 Fictional Background Information:  There is a sudden and  serious reduction in the oil supply to our country and has caused a shortage. As a result, the government is proposing restrictions on gasoline use for cars. Follow the example to make noun clauses:

________________________________________________________________________

Example:

What did the government order?

People must decrease their use of gasoline; they should not waste gas.

Answer: The government ordered that people decrease their gasoline use and that they not waste it.

Show students how to cut out the modal, must, should, etc? __________________________________________________________________

What did the government demand?

Each family must reduce their gas usage by 30%

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    2. What is necessary?

Everyone must obey the new restrictions

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3.What did the government require for people who live in the city?

People can only drive 3 times a week .      

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       4. What is advisable?

People should conserve gas as much as possible.

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       5. What has been demanded of airlines? 

Airlines should cut their trips by 25 %

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       6. What was suggested?

All workers use public transportation if possible

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       7. What was urged?  

People must take this crisis seriously

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If you are using this as a speaking practice activity you can put the questions on one card and the response on another card and pass them out at random in small groups. Or put all the questions in a pile and have students take turns picking up a question card and the next student must answer the question with a suitable noun clause. The above example is short so you'll have to create some more situations to practice with but it should give you an idea about how to get started teaching noun clauses that begin with 'that'.

References:

Oshima, A. and Hogue, A.(1999) Writing Academic English   Longman

http://bogglesworldesl.com/askthomas_noun_clause1.htm

Noun Clause Patterns

A.Using noun clauses which begin with a question word.

B.Noun clauses which begin with WHETHER or IF.

 C.Question words followed by infinitives.

 D.Noun clauses which begin with THAT

E.Using the simple form of a verb in a noun clause to stress importance.

 

Noun Clause

—A noun clause is used as a subject or an object.

   

Adjective Clause Patterns

A.Using subject pronouns : who, which, that

B.Using object pronouns : who(m), which, that

• Pronoun used as the object of a verb

C.Using whose

• Used to show possession. It carries the same meaning as other possessive pronouns: his, her, its, and their.

 

D.Using where

•   Used in an adjective clause to modify a place (city, country, room, house, etc.)

E.Using when 

•   Used in an adjective clause to modify a noun of time (year, day, time, century, etc.)

Adjectives Clause

—It is a dependent clause which modifies a noun.

—It  describes, identifies, or gives further information about a noun.

—It is also called a relative clause.

 

—E.g. : I thanked my mother who raised me.

What is a clause?

—A group of words containing a subject and a verb.

 

—There are two main types of Clause:

a)Independent Clause

• is a complete sentence.it contains the main subject and verb of a sentence and it can stand alone as a sentence. 
• E.g.  : I thanked my mother.

         : The door opened.

                   : We saw her.

 

b)Dependent Clause 

• is not a complete sentence.

• It must be connected to an independent clause as it cannot stand itself to express a complete thought.
• E.g. : I thanked my mother who raised me.
• It can be adjectival, nominal or adverbial.