An object clause, as its name implies, is the part that acts as an object (a transitive verb, a preposition or some adjectives) and acts as an object in a sentence. Therefore, such sentences (including clauses) are called complex sentences. The leading words of the leading object clause can be divided into three categories:

That is used to express the declarative mood, to express the general interrogative mood, and to mean "whether, whether" and "if". It shows that the special interrogative mood is guided by special interrogative words. The object clause can be used as the object of verbs, prepositions and some adjectives. For example:

He wrote me a letter saying that he would visit China next week.

I wonder if you could spare me a few minutes? (verb object)

The teacher is very satisfied with what you have done. (Guest)

Mother is glad that her grandfather passed the exam.

Second, through the "three customs" learning object clause:

(A) guide words

1, the conjunction that (often omitted in spoken English), if, whether, such as:

He knew that Jim would work hard.

Connective pronouns who, who, which, etc. , such as:

Do you know who they are waiting for?

Connect adverbs when, where, how, why, etc. , such as:

Can you tell me how to get to the station?

2. Object clauses guided by this, such as:

I didn't know Tom was late again.

I'm afraid it will rain soon.

Note 1: The leading object clause can often be omitted, but it cannot be omitted under the following circumstances.

(1) and connect two or more object clauses. Except in the first clause, the following clauses cannot be omitted.

Everyone can see what happened. Tom was robbed.

(2)that can't be omitted when the object clause led by that is used as the preposition object. For example:

I know nothing about him except that he is from the south.

(3) There are brackets between the main clause and the predicate verb of that clause, which cannot be omitted.

Considering his age, we decided not to let him do the work.

Note 2: If there is a complement, the object clause should be placed after the complement, and the formal object it should be used before the object complement.

He didn't want anyone to know that he was leaving.

I think it necessary for him to do it again.

Note 3: Negative migration. After verbs such as think, believe, assume and expect. The negation in the object clause is often reflected in the main clause. For example:

I don't think you are right.

I don't believe they have finished the work.

I don't think he cares, does he?

3. Object clauses guided by whether or not:

What and if both mean "whether". For example:

I don't know whether he will agree with me.

He asked me if I had finished my homework.

Note 1: Only whether can be used before infinitive.

I can't decide what to leave.

Note 2: In the fixed collocation of where ... or not.

I want to know whether it is good news or bad news.

Note 3: After preposition, you can only use whether or not.

His father is worried that he will lose his job.

Note 4: Conditional adverbial clauses cannot be guided by what, such as:

If he comes back before 10, please inform him of the news.

4. Guided by special interrogative words (wh…) (pay attention to the statement tone)

For example, he asked me, "Where is Mr. Wang?"

-He asked me where Mr. Wang was.

(2) By word order.

No matter what the original word order is, the sentences used as object clauses should use declarative word order, that is, "guide word+subject+predicate+object+others".

For example: 1, Tom said. He is reading a book.

Tom said he was reading a book.

He asked me. Are they playing games?

He asked me if they were playing games.

Where is the hospital? He told me.

He told me where the hospital was.

Note: When who is the subject in a clause, the word order itself is the order of "subject+predicate", so it will not change.

I want to know. Who will come tomorrow?

I wonder who will come tomorrow.

(3), past tense.

The tense of the object clause is limited by the tense of the main clause, that is, it should be consistent with the tense of the main clause (there are some exceptions), and the tense of the object clause is often ignored, hoping to attract our attention. Grasp the tense of the object clause from the following three aspects.

1. When the tense of the main clause is simple present tense, simple future tense and imperative sentence, the tense of the clause can be arbitrary according to the needs of the sentence meaning.

2. The tense of the main sentence is the general past tense, and the tense of the object clause should correspond to the past tense of the original sentence (with the word "past").

3. Object clauses describe objective facts, truths, natural phenomena, famous sayings, proverbs, etc. Regardless of the tense of the main clause, the clause will use the simple present tense.

Third, the special word order of the object clause.

In "Do you think/believe/assume-? If the object clause is guided by interrogative words, it should be "interrogative words+do you think/believe/support+normal word order?" "

For example: What's the matter with him? What do you think? What do you think happened to him?

Fourth, the problem of negative migration.

If the predicate verb of the object clause behind the verbs such as think and believe indicates negative meaning, the negative word not should generally be moved to the predicate verb of the main sentence, that is, the (meaning) predicate verb of the clause is negated by negating the predicate verb of the main sentence. At this point, the object clause is still regarded as negative when the interrogative sentence changes, and the interrogative part is positive. For example:

I don't think he will come.

I don't think he will come, will he?

I think he will come, won't he?

Simplification of verb (abbreviation of verb) object clause

1, when the main sentence predicate verbs are hope, decision, wish, consent, etc. , followed by an object clause, and the subject of the clause is consistent with the subject of the main sentence, it can be simplified to the infinitive structure of the verb.

For example, Wei Hua wants her to come back early. Wei Hua hopes to come back soon.

2. When verbs such as knowing, learning, remembering and forgetting are followed by an object clause, and the subject of the clause is consistent with the subject of the main sentence, it can be simplified to the structure of "interrogative words+infinitive".

I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say.

3. When verbs such as tell, learn, show and teach are followed by an object clause, and the subject of the clause is consistent with the indirect object of the main sentence, it can be simplified to the structure of "interrogative words+infinitive".

Can you tell me how to get there? (me and I in the sentence refer to the same person) can be rewritten as: How can I get there?

4. The object clause after the verb can also be simplified by infinitive, but the subject will change.

It seems that the boys are going to play games.

The boys seem to be playing games.

Review summary:

1. Four elements of a variable object clause: leading word, word order, tense and punctuation.

2. Remember the word order of declarative sentences in object clauses.

3. Pay attention to the consistency of the tense of the main clause and the clause (that is, when the main clause is the past tense, the clause should use the tense of the past category, except for objective truth or natural phenomena).