Question

Choose the noun clause and state its purpose in the sentence:

The plan depends on whether or not Brandon wants to help us.
A. The plan depends on whether - subject complement.
B. Whether or not Brandon wants – object.
C. Whether or not Brandon wants to help us – object of a preposition.
D. Whether or not Brandon wants to help us – subject complement.

Answer 1

Hint:Noun clause that comes after a preposition is called the object of a proposition. For Example: You can choose a gift for whomever you want.

Complete answer:
A noun clause is a dependent clause which acts as a noun. It mostly begins with how, what, where, whom, whether and other relative pronouns. A noun clause can act as a subject, object, predicate nominative or object of a proposition. A subject complement always follows a linking verb and acts as an adjective. A noun clause which comes after prepositions such as to, for, with etc. is called an object of that preposition.

Option A is incorrect because it neither a noun clause nor a subject complement and similar is the case of Option B.

Option C is correct because here ‘whether or not Brandon wants to help us’ is a noun clause where Brandon is the subject, wants is the verb and it is coming after the preposition ‘on’.

Option D is incorrect because it is the object of a preposition not the subject.

Hence, the correct answer is Option ‘C’.

Note:Noun clause cannot stand alone and always contains a subject and a verb or verb phrase to complete the sentence. Dependent clauses can function as an adverb, adjective or noun clauses.