Mastering Adverbial Clauses: Types and Examples
Adverbial Clauses: An Overview
Adverbial clauses modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, providing additional information about time, place, condition, concession, cause, purpose, or result.
Major Adverbial Clause Types
Time Clauses
Time clauses indicate when an action occurs. Common linkers include: when, while, after. They often appear initially (e.g., “After arriving at Gatwick, we took a coach to London.”). Future references often use the simple present tense.
Place Clauses
Place clauses specify where an action happens. Linkers: where, wherever (e.g., “Home is where the heart is.”).
Condition Clauses
Condition clauses express a condition. They are divided into several types:
- Positive condition: if, provided that, as long as.
- Negative condition: unless, but for, without.
- Concessive condition: even if, although, in spite of, without.
- Direct condition: The situation in the main clause is related to the subordinate clause.
- Possible: IF + PRESENT (SHOULD)/ [IMPERATIVE/FUTURE] (e.g., “If you want to park here, pay the parking meter.”)
- Hypothetical: IF + SIMPLE PAST/CONDITIONAL (e.g., “If we caught that train, we might get there in time.”)
- Contrary to present facts: IF + PAST PERFECT/ CONDITIONAL PERFECT (e.g., “If you had listened to my advice, you wouldn’t have had an accident.”)
- Indirect condition: The condition is implicit in the speech act (e.g., “She is too clever, if I may so.”)
- Rhetorical condition: Not real conditions but strong assertions (e.g., “If they’re Irish, I’m the Pope” – meaning “They are not Irish.”)
Concession Clauses
Concession clauses express a contrast or unexpected result. The situation in the main clause is unexpected given the concessive clause. Subordinators: although, though, while, whereas, even though, even if (e.g., Though he is ill, he will come to class). In conditional sentences, we can use and/or, in concessives, but.
Cause, Reason, and Circumstance Clauses
These clauses explain the reason for an action. Direct reason: because. Indirect reason: since, as. To emphasize the reason, use a cleft sentence (e.g., “It is because he behaved naughtily that he should be punished.”)
Semantic subtypes:
- Cause and effect: (e.g., She knows so much because she reads a lot.)
- Reason and consequence: (e.g., She watered the flowers because they were dry.)
- Motivation and result: (e.g., You’ll help me because you’re my friend.)
- Circumstances and consequences: (e.g., Since the weather has improved, we can take a walk tomorrow.)
Purpose and Result Clauses
These clauses explain the purpose or result of an action.
- Purpose: (syntactically, these are adjuncts)
- Non-finite: to-infinitive clauses (e.g., We are working hard to improve food production)
- Finite: so that, in order that (e.g., He shut the window so that the neighbours…)
- Result: (syntactically, these are adjuncts)
- Same linkers as in purpose clauses, but there is no modal and the subordinate clause is always postponed (e.g., He shut the windows, so that the neighbours didn’t hear)