The sentence pattern with noun clauses in object slots, following the main verb phrase, is very common indeed: Millions of students have learned that they need to repeat the multiplicati
Trang 1Some examples of the chunks with these participles can be taught in combinations with catch-all and other academic nouns found in chapter 4:
the issue concerning a solution requiring
the experiment involving the result produced
the problem relating to/resulting the information taken (together)
the data containing/using given these facts
As mentioned, however, the reduction of adjective clauses to adjective
par-ticipial phrases is an optional and advanced syntactic operation For this rea-son, it should only be taught in the case of highly proficient L2 writers or when a specific need arises in light of student errors with these constructions.
NOUN CLAUSES
Noun clauses are highly common in academic writing, and they are proba-bly the most common type of subordinate construction As the following in-formation demonstrates, they are also by far the most structurally complex.
As mentioned earlier, the functions of nouns can be performed by single words, phrases, full clauses, and reduced clauses (such as infinitive or gerund phrases; see chap 4) Noun clauses can fill the noun slot in a complex sen-tence (e.g., the subject, the object, the subject complement, or the adjective complement; see chap 3) However, noun clauses that fill the object slot are
by far the most frequent in academic writing (Biber et al., 1999) For example:
Psychologists know that information in short-term memory must be repeated.
[Psychologists know the fact/something/xxx—noun]
The sentence pattern with noun clauses in object slots, following the main verb phrase, is very common indeed:
Millions of students have learned that they need to repeat the multiplication ta-ble to remember it.
Bartlett's research shows that material in long-term memory interacts in inter-esting ways.
The most important discourse function of noun clauses is to
pres-ent and paraphrase information from sources For this reason, noun
clauses are particularly prevalent in academic writing when they
fol-low reporting verbs in summaries, restatements, and citations (Leki,
1999; Swales, 1990a; Swales & Feak, 1994; see chap 8 for information
on reporting verbs).
Trang 2Other types of constructions where noun clauses occur is following a spe-cific and limited class of adjectives, such as:
It is apparent/clear/evident/well-known/true/vital that students learn vocabulary The author is certain/dear/correct/right that students' writing needs improvement.
Another function of noun clauses is to provide for extensive cohesive ties
by means of recapitulation of the information stated earlier (e.g., It was stated/mentioned previously/above that ) or predicting the development of discourse/argumentation moves, particularly in introductions (e.g., This es-say/I will show/argue/prove that ).
As opposed to adverb clauses, in noun clauses the secondary
infor-mation is presented in the main clause, the most important
informa-tion is presented in the subordinate clause, which is almost always
placed at the end of the sentence
Noun clauses in the subject position (e.g., That students study hard is a well-known fact) are very rare in formal academic prose Although most
grammar books include them in their explanations of noun clauses, such structures practically never occur in student academic writing, native and non-native alike (Hinkel, 2002a)
Noun Clause Structure
Simple Sentences as Noun Clauses Practically all simple sentences, as
well as questions, can become noun clauses Simple sentences that are sen-tences are embedded into complex sensen-tences and marked by means of the
subordinate (and occasionally optional) conjunction that:
Some psychologists believe (that) changes occur in steps and stages.
Others maintain (that) changes take place in smooth, steady progression.
Although officially the clause marker that is optional, it serves an
important function and marks the beginning of a noun clause In
for-mal writing, the omission of that can lead to confusing constructions
that are somewhat informal For this reason, L2 writers are best
ad-vised to keep their thats, on.
By far the most common pattern of noun clauses entails reporting/belief
verbs followed by that clauses (see also chap 8) Additional lists of reporting
and belief verbs are included in appendix to this chapter
Trang 3The Most Frequent Academic Reporting Verbs Followed by That Noun Clauses
(in declining order)
say suggest see ensure think mean
show know find indicate believe feel
(Adapted from Leech et al., 2001)
As mentioned earlier, another type of construction with that noun clauses
is the construction in which the clause follows an adjective In these con-structions, noun clauses have the function of adjective complement:
It is apparent that the current recycling policy is not working.
The author is correct that the American pubic needs to be educated about waste.
Such constructions are far more common in the conversational register than in any type of written prose, and they are relatively rare in formal aca-demic writing However, they occasionally appear in evaluative types of texts written by native and non-native students alike possibly because these
struc-tures occur in conversations (e.g., I am angry/glad/happy/pleased/sorry/ sure you had problems or It is nice/great/incredible/shocking/terrible that he was elected).
The number of common adjectives followed by noun clauses is actually relatively small
The Most Common Academic Adjectives Followed by That Clauses
General Purpose
accepted/acceptable doubtful right
apparent evident true
certain likely/unlikely well known
clear possible/impossible
correct probable
Evaluative Adjectives
critical vital preferable
crucial interesting sufficient
desirable disappointing understandable
essential notable unusual
important noteworthy
necessary noticeable
(Adapted from Leech et al., 2001; Swales & Feak, 1994)
Trang 4Wh- Questions as Noun Clauses Wh- noun clauses that represent
embed-ded wh-questions also serve to delay the most important and new
informa-tion to the secondary clause posiinforma-tion and provide a lead to the topic the writer intends to introduce and address (Francis, 1994) This function of
wh-clauses is particularly important in developing cohesive ties from the
old-to-the-new information structure (see also chap 11)
In many cases with nouns clauses, it is the constructions with
wh-questions, marked by wh-subordinators such as what, where, and
who, that cause the greatest number of L2 errors.
In direct questions, subjects and verbs are inverted, and an auxiliary verb
is added in almost all cases (with the exceptions of who and what questions to
sentence subjects) For example:
What are some problems with Bentham's utilitarian theory?
How does the need for political theory arise ?
What does Aquinas mean by "motion" and why cannot something be both
"moved" and "mover"?
To convert direct wh-questions to noun clauses (and make them
indi-rect questions), the questions need to be turned into statements—with
the subject (first)—verb (second) word order as is required in all
state-ments in English
Also when wh- questions are converted to indirect questions in noun
clauses, all wh- words must be retained For example, when paraphrasing
direct wh- questions, most of the work takes place inside the noun clause:
Main Clause Noun Clause—Embedded Question
The author asks what [are] some problems are with Bentham's
utilitarian theory.
The article discusses how [doeS] the need for political theory ariseS.
Philosophers what [doeS] Aquinas meanS by "motion" and why
continue to debate [cannot] something cannot be both "moved" and "mover."
It seems clear from the examples that be- and modal verbs (e.g., can, may] are moved to follow the subject slot With other types of verbs, auxil-iary verb information such as tense, person, and number (e.g., does, do, did)
is merged with the main verb (e.g., doeS mean -> meanS, did mean -> meanT, ariseS -» arose).
Trang 5In teaching wh-questions to noun clause conversions, it is
impor-tant to emphasize that students need to:
a) identify the entire subject slot to determine where to put be- and
modal verbs
b) locate the head noun in the subject slot to figure out whether it is
singular or plural to attend to subject-verb agreement
Embedding questions with subject wh- words immediately followed by
main verbs does not require moving any elements of the noun clause:
What determines status or class within society?
Hegel's theory explains what determines status or class within society.
What distinguishes philosophy from theology?
This essay presents Burke's views on what distinguishes philosophy from theology.
Caveat: In examples such as What are some problems with Bentham's utilitar-ian theory?, the sentence subject is the noun phrase some problems, and not the relative pronoun what As mentioned earlier, it is necessary to identify the entire subject noun phrase and head noun to convert wh -questions to noun
clauses To locate the subject and head noun, the litmus test is a full-sen-tence response to the question:
What are some problems with Bentham's utilitarian theory?
Some problems with Bentham's theory are xxx.
What distinguishes philosophy from theology?
YYY distinguishes philosophy from theology.
After direct questions are converted into statements, no question mark is needed: It is replaced by a period to mark the end of the sentence This is an important point to make in teaching: The concept of a sentence and marked sentence boundaries is difficult even for NS students To add to the
mix, the syntactic distinctions between questions and sentences, marked by
intonation alone in many languages,3 may be particularly puzzling to speak-ers of many languages (e.g., the inverted subject-verb order, not to mention the separation of verbs into various parts, and questions marks)
Yes/No Questions as Noun Clauses With yes/no questions that have no wh- words (e.g., does utilitarian theory explain xxx? ), a wh- word must be added—whether For example,
3In many Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages, such as Russian, Ukrainian,
Trang 6Is government in civil society a necessary evil [yes/no]
No one knows whether [Is] government in civil society is a necessary evil?
Does anarchy arise in the absence of government? [yes/no] Taylor investigates whether [DoeS] anarchy ariseS in the absence of government.
Contrary to explanations found in many ESL books that whether and if
can be equally well employed in constructing noun clauses, in academic
writing if occasionally occurs with only three verbs:
see (if) determine (if) find out (if)
As the examples demonstrate, to convert a question into a noun clause
cor-rectly, L2 writers need to be able to identify the entire subject noun phrase in
the subject slot (in this case, government in civil society) because the verb follows
the subject Then it is necessary to identify the head noun with which the verb must agree in number Clearly, noun clause construction is not a trivial task.
• To summarize, when L2 writers work with noun clauses, a number
of syntactic operations need to be attended to:
1 Embedding statements is the easiest task:
• Build the main clause, add that, and then add the statement.
Biologists claim that cellular theories can explain aging.
2 With wh- questions:
• Build the main clause, keep the wh- word, and identify the
whole subject slot.
After years of research, it is still not known what the causes of
de-pression are.
• Move be- or modal verbs to follow the entire subject slot In
the case of the auxiliary-and-main verb split, merge the verbs.
If the verb follows the wh-word, do not move anything.
Entomologists continue to investigate what eradicates pests in food
crops.
• Locate the head noun in the subject slot and make sure that
the number of the head noun agrees with that of the verb
phrase elements (including auxiliary verbs)
What doeS carbon dating show researchers ? The articles discusses what carbon dating showS researchers.
3 With yes/no questions:
• Build the main clause and add the conjunction whether after
the main clause.
• Identify the whole subject slot and move be- or modal verbs to
follow the entire subject slot In the case of the
auxil-iary-and-main verb split, merge the verbs.
Trang 7Locate the head noun in the subject slot and make sure that the number
of the head noun agrees with that of the verb phrase elements (including auxiliary verbs)
An important rule of thumb that applies to all noun clauses (and
particu-larly embedded questions):
When questions become clauses, they are no longer questions—they are clauses, and clauses are actually sentences For this reason, the question
word order (the verb before the subject) and separated verbs (e.g., what does
it do? does it do ?) cannot be used in statements even when a larger sentence
includes a question in it
A useful analogy can be a pencil box/pouch, a ring binder, a file folder, or any type of a container that includes smaller items in it: The main clause can include all sorts of items in it, such as noun (or adjective) clauses, but what is seen on the outside is the container and not its contents So when the larger
"container" is a sentence, the entire structure is a sentence Helping L2
writ-ers to learn to notice their own errors in the word order and the verbs in
em-bedded noun clauses can take the form of simple prompting: Is this a question or a sentence? Is this a question? This is a sentence, right?
Tenses in Noun Clauses As mentioned throughout this book, the
distinc-tions between the conversational and formal written registers need to be ex-plicitly addressed in teaching (Hinkel, 200la, 2003a, 2003b) A majority of L2 learners in English-speaking environments have far greater exposure to and experience with conversational than written academic discourse, and many structures that may be common place in casual interaction find their way into formal writing:
?John said that he 'll call me tomorrow; ?Mary told me that she 'll be here at 8.
Although the uses of the past and future tenses in complex sentences with noun clauses is ubiquitous in conversational register, it is not accept-able in formal written English As mentioned in chapter 7 on tenses, the usage of tenses in formal writing is highly conventionalized A formal
sys-tem of rules, also called the sequence of tenses, governs the uses of tenses in
noun clauses:
• If the main verb takes the past tense, the subordinate clause can
only take past or present tenses Future markers and modal verbs
undergo some of the following changes (these are only about half of
all the rules):
• Simple present turns into past (e.g., He said that he studied every
day).
• Simple past turns into past perfect (e.g., She said she had studied).
Trang 8• The future marker will is turned into would; and would have in
negative with the meaning of did not (e.g., He said that he would
study for the test [he did], and He said he would have studied for the test
[he actually did not]).
• Can turns into could in positive constructions, and could have in
negative also with the meaning of did not (e.g., She told me that
she could help me, and She told me that she could have helped me).
• May becomes might (e.g., They mentioned that they might come).
• Should and might do not change (e.g., We said that we should/might
go).
• Must becomes had to (e.g., They told us that we had to go).
Given that these rules mention only some of the most important tense and verb changes in noun clauses, it is not difficult to see how implementing them may become hairy indeed However, the conventionalized uses of tenses in academic writing can be used to L2 writers' advantage because the range of tenses and aspects in written prose is far more limited than that in conversational discourse (or most ESL grammar books).
In academic writing, the large number of rules and specific verb conver-sions in noun clauses can be simplified to a great extent:
The verb tense in the main clause determines the tense in the noun
clause If the main clause is in the past, the noun clause verb can take
the simple present or simple past tenses The present tense is far
eas-ier to use in both main and noun clauses than to change verbs to
past-tense forms (no positive/negative worries) or replace the verbs
altogether.
In a sentence such as, Researchers noted that it may/might be difficult to tell
the difference between depression and learned helplessness, the verb in the noun
clause can be changed to the past tense or remain in the present tense, and both constructions can be perfectly usable, although their meanings differ slightly.
Another possibility for using tenses in noun clauses correctly is simpler still (see chap 7):
Whenever possible, the simple present tense should be used in
the main and the noun clauses, with the exception of case studies
and historical or biographical contexts, which are specifically
flagged for the past tense by means of past time adverb phrases (or
other markers).
In the following two examples, the present tense and past tense in the main and noun clauses work equally well:
Trang 9Nancy Snidman showed that shyness represented a relative, culture-bound lable She found that no differences existed in the reactions of four-month-old babies Nancy Snidman shows that shyness represents a relative, culture-bound label She finds that no differences exist in the reactions of four-month-old babies.
The flexibility of meanings and functions in the simple present tense makes
it a highly versatile and practical construction Simple is as simple does
In light of structural complexities in the uses of noun clause, it is
hardly surprising that even advanced L2 writers continue to make
syntactic errors in these structures Most important, what is needed
for these students is practice, practice, and practice
A Side Note
In English, the pronoun that can serve many masters and do many things,
and for this reason it is very confusing for L2 learners:
• The easiest form of that is demonstrative:
That article was on achievement and learned motives, as in this, that, and
the other
To identify the demonstrative that, it can be simply replaced by this
or the other, and the sentence remains largely similar in meaning and
structure: this article was , the other article was (see also chap 6 on
pronouns)
• The second form of that is the least useful because it introduces
noun clauses but does not have a function in them:
The author thinks that the earth is flat.
In this sentence, that can be simply omitted without any damage to or change in the sentence: The author thinks the earth is flat.
• In noun clauses that occupy the subject position of the entire
com-plex sentence, the introductory that cannot be omitted:
That students have trouble with noun clauses is understandable.
• The third form of that is probably the most complex: It replaces
subject or object noun phrases in adjective clauses and, thus,
takes over the functions and grammatical features of the noun
phrases it replaces:
Trang 10Social interaction that is found in many human activities plays an important role in socialization.
When the relative pronoun that is the subject of the adjective clause, it is
easy to identify because it is immediately followed by the sentence predicate
(verb) When that is not followed by the sentence predicate, it is the object of
the adjective clause:
Emotions that people are not willing to discuss include aggression, envy, or disdain.
In this example, that is the verb object of the adjective clause: It is fol-lowed by the subject people and the verb are In either case, when that is the
subject or the object of the adjective clause, it cannot be merely dropped (as
is the case with that in noun clauses) because without it the sentence would
be ungrammatical.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Subordinate clauses of all types represent advanced syntactic constructions These clauses are necessary for L2 writers to use in academic writing to avoid having their writing appear too simple However, to benefit from the sophistication subordinate clauses add to the students' writing, students must use these constructions correctly.
• Adverbial clauses are probably the easiest subordinate clauses for
L2 writers to master, and they express a variety of contextual
rela-tionships, some of which refer to time, cause, contrast, and
condi-tion Adverbial clauses are separate from the main clause of a
sentence and contain supplemental information to the primary
in-formation in the main clause.
• Adjective clauses perform the same function that adjectives and
ad-jective phrases perform, but where adad-jectives precede the nouns
they describe, adjective clauses follow the nouns they describe
Ad-jective clauses can be used to modify practically any type of noun or
noun phrase, and in these subordinate clause constructions the
rel-ative pronouns that, who, and which replace the noun that the
adjec-tive clause modifies Adjecadjec-tive clauses are easier for students when
the relative pronoun is the subject in the clause When the relative
pronoun is the object, students need to be taught to move the
rela-tive pronoun to the beginning of the clause and make sure that
there is only one object to the verb.
• Noun clauses are probably the most common type of subordinate
construction Unfortunately, they are also the most structurally