An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions as an

adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...

. That is, the entire clause modifies a separate element within a sentence. As with all clauses, it contains a subject and

predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...

, though the subject as well as the (predicate) verb are omitted and implied if the clause is reduced to an adverbial phrase as discussed below.

Adverbial clause versus adverbial phrase

Adverbial clauses

An adverbial clause begins with a subordinating conjunction—sometimes called a trigger word. In the examples below, the adverbial clause is italicized and the subordinating conjunction is bolded: :Mary, the aspiring actress, became upset as soon ''as she saw the casting list''. ::(subject: ''she''; predicate: ''saw the casting list''; the clause modifies the verb ''became'') :Peter, the drama teacher, met with Mary ''after she calmed down''. ::(explicit subject: ''she''; predicate: ''came to the next class.''; predicate (verb): ''came''; the clause modifies the verb ''met'') :We left ''before the speeches ended.'' ::(adverbial clause; contains subject and predicate) According to Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk (''Greenbaum'' and ''Quirk'', 1990), adverbial clauses function mainly as adverbial adjuncts or disjuncts but differ in syntax from adverbial phrases and adverbial

prepositional phrases An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or cir ...

, as indicated below.

Adverbial phrases

Unlike adverbial clauses, adverbial phrases contain neither an explicit subject nor a predicate. In the examples below, the adverbial phrase is italicized and the adposition is bolded: :Mary, the aspiring actress, became upset ''as one of the casting list rejects.'' :Peter, the drama teacher, met with Mary ''after seeing her disappointment''. :We left ''before the speeches.''

Types

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

References

External links

Adverb Clause

Grammar Syntactic categories