I want to give you 25 examples of the Noun Clause which is introduced by What or Whatever
Noun Clause Markers
Words that introduce noun clauses are referred to as Noun Clause Markers.
One simple way to ascertain whether a clause is a Noun Clause therefore is to find out if it begins with any one of these Noun Clause Markers.
One such noun clause marker is the word what or its derivative whatever.
Other popular noun clause markers are:
that, who/whoever, which/whichever, where/wherever, whom/whomever, how/however, if, whether, when/ whenever, why, whose
Though it does not necessarily mean that every group of words beginning with what or whatever is a noun clause, knowing this about noun clauses will make it easier for you to identify one.
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Please note
There are other factors to consider before finally deciding on an answer of Noun Clause if you have been asked to identify the grammatical name of a group of words introduced by what/whatever.
However, I will leave this for another tutorial.
In this tutorial, we want to focus on examples of the noun clause that begins with the word what/whatever.
These are not noun clauses.
But before we do that, let me quickly show you some groups of words beginning with what/whatever which are not noun clauses.
The following may begin with what/whatever but they are not functioning as noun clauses.
What is this all about?
Whatever happens to me, remain calm.
Whatever you say, he will never change his mind
What are we going to do now?
What have all the people been saying about his behaviour?
Now let’s turn our attention to just 25 examples of the noun clause which begins with what/whatever.
Noun clauses refer to SOMETHING
You will see that each group of words in bold lettering in each sentence is referring to SOMETHING. That is one reason why they are NOUN clauses and not ADVERBIAL OR ADJECTIVAL clauses, for example.
Thus, if you pose the what-question, which all nouns tend to answer, each of the groups of words in bold lettering will answer it perfectly.
Just take sentence 6, for example.
Tell them exactly what I just told you.
I can ask a question like,
WHAT SHOULD I TELL THEM?
Answer: WHAT I JUST TOLD YOU.
Noun Clauses Introduced by What/Whatever
The grammatical name of all the clauses specified in the sentences below is NOUN CLAUSE.
1. She was ready to accept whatever her employer gave her.
2. What you told me turned out to be true.
3. We couldn’t find what we were looking for.
4. What most people call love is just lust and infatuation.
5. Do what you want to do and get out of here.
6. Tell them exactly what I just told you.
7. This is what the lecture has been talking about this morning.
8. Whatever she might have told you was never true.
9. Whatever Kayode did that morning seems to be the cause of his downfall.
10. I know what they want to hear.
11. The government is poised to implement whatever policies it promised last year.
12. Just show them what the men did to you.
13. Is that what she demanded?
14. What brought about the rise in inflation in the last quarter is still not very clear.
15. What I don’t know I can’t say.
16. We thought we could force them to tell us what went wrong.
17. Education should prepare the learner for what he will have to deal with in real life after leaving school.
18. Is it true that the internet is going to bring what no one expects at this very moment?
19. Whatever came over her last night made her behave out of character.
20. Please let me know what I can do to help.
21. What every immigrant wants is a place of hope, not a place of refuge.
22. What I saw in Abuja convinced me that Nigeria still has a bright future.
22. The love of liberty was what brought us here.
23. The fruits of freedom are what America is currently sharing with the world.
24. Whatever brought apartheid to South Africa shall never have its way again.
25. Let me show you what I got from her.
So now you know …
There is a lot more you can learn on this site about the grammatical names and functions of words and groups of words. Just take a look around and you will be amazed at what you will find.
Thank you.
Ralph Nyadzi is the Director of Studies at Cegast Academy. He is a qualified English tutor with decades of experience behind him. Since 2001, he has successfully coached thousands of High School General Arts WASSCE candidates in English, Literature and related subjects. He combines his expertise with a passion for lifelong learning to guide learners from varying backgrounds to achieve their educational goals. Ralph shares lessons from his blogging journey on BloggingtotheMax. He lives with River, his pet cat, in the Central Region of Ghana.
