Technical Reading

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Technical Reading

• ME8175
• ChinMin Hsiung, PhD
• Fall, 2006

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Lesson 3

• Noun Clause

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Noun Clause (NC)

• That NC and Wh NC
• Begin with That or Wh
• Function as a Noun in a sentence
• Subject
• Object
• Complement
• Apposition

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That NC

• As a Subject
• Something is strange.
• He didn't show up on time.
• ? That he didn't show up on time is strange.
• begin with that
• ? It is strange that he didn't show up on
  time.
• it is a dummy, used when NC is too long

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That NC (cont.)

• As an Object
• The defendant said something.
• He didn't do it.
• ? The defendant said that he didn't do it.
• begin with that
• replace something

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That NC (cont.)

• As a Complement
• The car is ruined.
• The important thing is that were OK.
• As a Apposition
• The story that he once killed a man might
  just be true.

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Wh NC

• Begins with a Wh word (who, when)
• I know the question.
• Who are you?
• ? I know who you are.
• are you?? you are.
• Wh NC is the question

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Wh NC (cont.)

• The question is anybodys guess.
• When will the bomb go off?
• ? When the bomb will go off is anybodys
  guess.
• will the bomb? the bomb will
• The question When willoff?

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Wh NC (cont.)

• I cant tell which.
• Either hes telling the truth or hes not.
• ? I cant tell whether hes telling the truth
  or not.
• whicheither..or not whether(or not)

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Reading Assignment 3

• Page 209-230 of the text

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Homework 3

• Read your semester-articles
• Identify all of NC
• Identify their function as
• Subject, Object, Complement
• Type one sentence per line, underline the clauses
  and mark their function
• Translate into Chinese

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The End