Unit 21 NOUN CLAUSES

WARM UP :

DO YOU KNOW ANY JOKES IN ENGLISH? WHAT TIME IS IT WHEN AN ELEPHANT SITS ON YOUR WATCH?

WHAT TIME IS IT?

VOCABULARY

Outdo= be better or more successful Afterthought= something extra that is mentioned Stroll = to walk calmly

Vocabulary: mansion

Comprehension questions:

Did the mother have a favorite son? Why was the sibling rivalry so intense? Do you think the mother needed all those lavish gifts? Why did she appreciate the trained parrot?

Your opinion !

Do you think most brothers and sisters want to outdo each other for their parents' love?
In the story the chauffer Joe hires for his mother doesn't speak English. If you work in a country, do you have an obligation to learn its language and customs? Why?

Refresh your memory!

What do you need to have a clause? At least a ______ and a verb. -my dad tells jokes. / I don't laugh easily. Clauses are Independent and ___________. d____________ clauses start with a s________;for example if, since, where, wherever, although, etc

Grammar notes
Noun clauses are DEPENDENT CLAUSES and they function like regular nouns:

They can be subjects: They can be objects: They can be subject complements: They can be adjective complements:

What makes me laugh is a good joke.

You can see that I am a funny person.

The question is whether people will laugh.

It is clear that laughter involves an emotion.

Notice this formal sentence:

That she was a funny person was clear.
That you laughed so much is understandable.

There are three types of noun clauses

Beginning with THAT:

That you laugh is a good sign.

It's amazing that she tells jokes.

Beginning with question words:

What I told her was a joke. Can you explain why he did that?

Beginning with whether or if:

I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. If she likes my jokes matters to me.

Now try to complete these sentences with noun clauses:

My friends know that _______________. That ___________a lot is easy to notice. Why the teacher ____ a joke is _______. It's amusing what ________ did with the parrot! Do you know why she _______?

GRAMMAR NOTES 4-5

Many times questions are changed into noun clauses to make EMBEDDED QUESTIONS:

Is he from Peru?
Do you know if he's from Peru? Where does Linda work? Can you tell me where Linda works? What does incongruous mean?

I'm not sure what incongruous means.

Why did you laugh?--- did Linda understand

the joke?---

4 bumper stickers
Sample language:
Is there life before coffee?

What this is referring to is the fact that many people cannot start the day without coffee. They act like they're dead. Do you know what HONK IF YOU'RE ILLITERATE means?
Hmm. What this means is that you will be ______ _______________________________________. It's no polite to be honking unnecesarily.

Grammar notes 6-7

Remember that when you introduce embedded yes/no questions we use if and whether or not:
Does Tony tell good jokes? Do you know ______ or not Tony ___________? can Tony travel to the comedian's convention? Who knows ___ Tony ___________________? did she get the joke?

We don't know _________ or not she _______.

Focused practice 3
Samples What happens to our diaphragm when we laugh?
I have no idea what happens to our diaphragm when we laugh. What does hyperbole mean?

I have no idea what hyperbole means.

Communication practice 6 listening

Warm up: Who is good at telling jokes in your family?
What is necessary to tell jokes correctly? READ THE QUESTIONS THEN LISTEN AND WRITE ANSWERS USING NOUN CLAUSES ! 1 What bothers Greg about jokes is that they're too programmed. 2 the expectation is that you will ____whether you think the _____ is _____ or not.

7 what's funny about that?

Explain why you find a particular joke humorous: What I think is funny is the pilot's answer about retiring to Georgia to raise peaches.
Why? Because what the traffic controller meant was_______________ , not what the pilot planned to do after he_______________!

8 writing
Warm up:

Do you tend to laugh easily?

Can you think of a funny situation you were part of? What happened? Can you tell your partner a joke you remember? --what do elephants have that no other animal has? --why couldn't Cinderella be a good soccer player? what did the ocean say to the beach?

8 writing
Write a paragraph about a funny or humorous situation you or someone you know experimented. Give details and explain why it was funny. USE NOUN CLAUSES ( 4 )