Adverbial clauses

An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions as an adverb. That is, the entire clause
modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. As with all clauses, it contains a subject / verb
combination.

An adverbial clause begins with a subordinating conjunction. In the examples below the adverbial
clause is italicized and the subordinating conjunction is in bold.

Mary, the aspiring actress, became upset as soon as she saw the casting list.
Once we have finished the work, we can relax.
Peter Paul, the drama teacher, met with Mary after she came to the next class.
Unless I am very much mistaken, that's his brother in law.

Adverbial clauses are divided into several groups according to the actions or senses of their
conjunctions.

Type of Subordinating Function Example

clause Conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions These clauses: Her goldfish died when she
answering the question Say when something was young.
"when?" happens by referring to a He came after night had
period or point of time, or to fallen.
time after, as long as, before, another event. He told us his adventures in
as, once, since, till, until, Arctic as we went along.
when, whenever,
as soon as, while
if, unless, lest, provided Talk about a possible or If they lose weight during an
condition that, as long as, given counterfactual situation and illness, they soon regain it
its consequences. afterwards.
that
in order to, so that, Indicate the purpose of an They had to take some of his
purpose in case, in order that action. land so that they could
extend the churchyard.
because, since, as, given Indicate the reason for They couldn't feel anger
reason something. against him because they
liked him too much.
although, though, Make two statements, one I used to read a lot, though I
Concession despite the fact that, of which contrasts with the don't have much time for
other or makes it seem books now.
/ contrast while, even though,
surprising.
whereas
Answering the question Talk about the location or He said he was happy
"where?" position of something. where he was.
place
where, wherever,
anywhere, everywhere
Answering the question, Talk about someone's I was never allowed to do
"how"? behaviour or the way things as I wanted to do.
manner something is done. He spent a lot of money as if
as, like, as if, as though he was very rich.

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ACTIVITIES

1- Put in the subordinating conjunctions: as, because, even though, since, though, where, while
There in an extra one.

2- Complete these sentences with subordinating conjunctions.

a) _____________Marianne loved Willoughby, she refused to believe that he had deserted her.
b) _____________Fanny returned, she found Tom Bertram very ill.
c) _____________Mr Darcy disliked Mrs Bennet, he married Elizabeth.
d) Henry changed his plans_____________the mood took him.
e) _____________Emma had left Hartfield, Mr Woodhouse would have been unhappy.
f) _____________Lenny learned that Matt had not been wearing his seat belt, he took away his keys
to the car.
g) _____________Lenny was done working for the night, Matt took a secret ride in the car.
h) _____________Matt gets his keys to the car back, he must promise to wear the seat belt.
i) _____________Sherri blew out the candles atop her birthday cake, she caught her hair on fire.
j) Sara begins to sneeze_____________she opens the window to get a breath of fresh air.
k) They couldn’t deliver the parcel since no one was there to answer the door.
l) _____________I earn a lot of money every month, I never seem to have any to spare!
m) _____________the waves are high enough, we can go surfing.
n) _____________he pays a fine, he will not have to go to jail.
o) He couldn't leave_____________the work was done.
p) _____________we've finished we can go for a drink.
q) I love foreign holidays,_____________my husband prefers to stay at home.

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Angelita Unearthed

My grandma didn’t like the rain, and before the first drops fell, when the sky grew dark, she would
go out to the backyard with bottles and bury them halfway, with the whole neck underground; she
believed those bottles would keep the rain away. I followed her around asking, “Grandma why don’t you
like the rain, why don’t you like it?” No reply—Grandma dodged my questions, shovel in hand, wrinkling
her nose to sniff the humidity in the air. If it did eventually rain, whether it was a drizzle or a
thunderstorm, she shut the doors and windows and turned up the volume on the TV to drown out the
sound of wind and the raindrops on the zinc roof of the house. And if the downpour coincided with her
favourite show, Combat!, there wasn’t a soul who could get a word out of her, because she was
hopelessly in love with Vic Morrow.
I just loved the rain, because it softened the dry earth and let me indulge in my obsession with
digging. And boy, did I dig! I used the same shovel as Grandma, a very small one, like a child’s beach
toy only made of metal and wood instead of plastic. The plot at the far end of the yard held little pieces
of green glass with edges so worn they no longer cut you, and smooth stones that seemed like round
pebbles or small beach rocks—what were those things doing out behind my house? Someone must
have buried them there. Once, I found an oval-shaped stone the size and color of a cockroach
without legs or antennae. On one side it was smooth, and on the other side some notches formed the
clear features of a smiling face. I showed it to my dad, thrilled because I thought I’d found myself an
ancient artefact, but he told me it was just a coincidence that the marks formed a face. My dad never
got excited about anything. I also found some black dice with nearly invisible white dots. I found shards
of apple-green and turquoise frosted glass, and Grandma remembered they’d once been part of an old
door. I also used to play with worms, cutting them up into tiny pieces. It wasn’t that I enjoyed watching
the mutilated bodies writhe around before going on their way. I thought that if I really cut up the worm,
sliced it like an onion, ring by ring, it wouldn’t be able to regenerate. I never did like creepy-crawlies.
I found the bones after a rainstorm that turned the back patch of earth into a mud puddle. I put
them into a bucket (that) I used for carrying my treasures to the spigot on the patio, where I washed
them. I showed them to Dad. He said they were chicken bones, or maybe even beef bones, or else they
were from some dead pet someone must have buried a long time ago. Dogs or cats. He circled back
around to the chicken story because before, when he was little, my grandma used to have a coop back
there.
It seemed like a plausible explanation until Grandma found out about the little bones. She started
to pull out her hair and shout, “Angelita! Angelita!” But the racket didn’t last long under Dad’s glare: he
put up with Grandma’s “superstitions” (as he called them) only as long as she didn’t go overboard.
She knew that disapproving look of his, and she forced herself to calm down. She asked me for the
bones and I gave them to her. Then she sent me off to bed. That made me a little mad, because I
couldn’t figure out what I’d done to deserve that punishment.