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Noun Clauses and Giving Advice

When a person is giving advice in a noun clause, the noun clause often has other simpler forms.

Three verbs of advice are suggest, advise, and recommend. All three can form noun clauses in the regular way.

• Mary suggests that John should take the job.
• Mary advises that John should call them right away.
• Mary recommends that John should buy a new suit.

However, all three can be simplified. The first way is simply to remove should, leaving the verb in the simple form (usually, the subject John would require an –s on the verb in the present tense).

• Mary suggests that John take the job.
• Mary advises that John call them right away.
• Mary recommends that John buy a new suit.

The second way to express the same idea is to change the noun clause verb to its –ing form and put it right after the main verb. The only way to know that the advice is for John is from the context of the sentence.

• Mary suggests taking the job.
• Mary advises calling them right away.
• Mary recommends buying a new suit.

Both of these forms are more common than using a noun clause with should.

It expressions and things of great importance

Some it expressions describe things of great importance. We can write the noun clauses using strong verbs such as must.

• It is important that John must make a good first impression.
• It is necessary that John must be on time for his first day of work.
• It is imperative that John must finish this report by Friday.

As with the verb should above, such noun clauses are usually simplified and the must is omitted.

• It is important that John make a good first impression.
• It is necessary that John be on time for his first day of work.
• It is imperative that John finish this report by Friday.

Promise and Tell

The two common verbs promise and tell can make noun clauses.

With promise, if the noun clause has the same subject as the main sentence, the noun clause is often changed to an infinitive (to + simple verb).

• Mary promised John that she would drive him to work.
• Mary promised John to drive him to work.

• Mary promised John that he would be on time.
• (no change possible)

With told, you can express the idea of advice by using the infinitive (to + simple verb) instead of a noun clause after the object (Mary).

• John told Mary that she should vacuum the cat hairs from her car.
• John told Mary to vacuum the cat hairs from her car.

How to use Grammar Online What is a Noun Clause? How to form a Noun Clause When to use a Noun Clause Reported or Quoted Speech Samples of Noun Clause usage Final Unit Exercise

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