Adverbial clauses

The job of an adverbial can be done by a single word, a phrase, or a clause:

So I went round later. (adverb)
So I went round after work. (prepositional phrase)
So I went round after I had finished. (adverbial clause)

Adverbial clauses can do most of the things that single adverbs, or phrases (especially prepositional phrases) used as adverbials can.

Adverbial clauses are frequent in written texts as the following short extract shows. The adverbial clauses are in bold.

When I was well again it became clear that Tsiganok occupied a very special place in the household. Grandfather didn't shout at him so often and so angrily as he did at his sons, and when he wasn't there he would screw up his eyes, shake his head, and say, 'My Ivanka's got hands of gold.'

You will notice that a common feature of adverbial clauses is that they are introduced by words like when, as, if, because. Since they introduce subordinate clauses, these are referred to as subordinating conjunctions.

©John Seely 2008