Grammar Clinic: Adverbial Clauses

Grammar: Adverbial Clauses

A clause is a group of words containing a subject and predicate or a finite verb. (A finite verb is a form of a verb that shows the tense, number and person.) A clause can be a simple sentence or part of a sentence.

Different elements – subject, verb, indirect object, direct object,complement, and adverbial – combined to form a clause as shown in the table that follows:

Subject	Verb	Indirect object	Direct object	Complement	Adverbial
We	ran.
Some guests	have left.
The boys	carried		buckets
Time	passes			very slowly.
They	are playing				outside their house.
Bob	gave	his cat	milk.
The news	made		her	excited.
Jane	met		her boyfriend		at the orientation camp.

Here, we look at a particular kind of dependent clause: adverb clauses of reason. Adverb clauses of reason or cause answer the question Why?

They are often introduced by conjunctions (joining words) like because, as and since. 

The adverbial clause contains a subject and a verb. It adds extra information about the time, place, manner, etc to a sentence, and modifies the verb. As a dependent clause, it cannot stand on its own and must connect to the main clause or an independent clause to form a complete sentence. The adverbial clause may come before or after the main clause. When it comes before the main clause, a comma is used to separate the two clauses. When it comes after the main clause, no comma is necessary. The adverbial clause usually begins with a conjunction.

• He shook my hand before he passed on.
• He ate the whole, big chicken although he said he was not hungry.
• The wife now sleeps in another room because the husband snores loudly.
• Bill and I once love each other as if we are brothers.

• Look left and right before you leap.
• When she heard the news, she fainted.

• Why does the sheep follow Mary wherever she goes?
• That is the farm where I picked mangoes.

• As I have said a hundred times, wash you plate after your meal
• He treats his dog like his own brother. 

• I hold my new pen up so that everyone can see it.
• He added sugar in order to sweeten the tea, but the tea became too sugary. 

• As we are both tired, we agreed to stop playing.
• She got stung because she went too close to the wasp’s nest.

• If he were not such a heavy smoker, he would be alive today.
• I’m going to take away your television unless you pay me back the money. 

Sometimes, we often need to use sentences starting with IF….. They are called conditional sentences, and there are three principal types.

Type 1 – Likely
E.g – If I go to prison, no one will respect me again

Mr Ayo, the speaker thinks that his going to prison is quite likely in the future. So we use this type of sentence to talk about things which we think are possible in the future.

Notice that in the clause beginning with If, Mr Ayo uses the present tense; in the main clause he uses will. In the main clause, he might use shall instead of will after I.

If I go to prison, I will or shall be ruined.

We can use unless  to mean if … not:

Unless the judge saves me, I shall go to prison.

Type 2 – Unlikely

Look at this sentence:

Chuks, if you went by road, you would spend less

The meaning is probably Chuks already has a firm plan to go somewhere by air. His friend Ejike wants him to go by road, although Ejike thinks this is unlikely to happen. 

Notice that in the if  clause, there is a Past Simple Tense (went, Past tense of go), while would  features in the main clause. This is called Type 2 conditional statement. Generally, Type 2 is used to talk about something that could happen, now or in the future, though the speaker thinks it is unlikely.

Now imagine this scene: a police stops Mr Bobola. So:

• What would happen if his driving licence was out of date?
• What would happen if he got angry?

Later, Mr Bobola goes to a restaurant to eat:

• What would happen if he ate too much?
• What would happen if he drank too much?
• What might happen if he left his tablet behind?

Notice again, 

1. Type 2 concerns what is unlikely in the present or the future
2. The past Tense is used in the ‘ if ‘  clause, ‘would’  in the main clause

The negative of would is  wouldn’t . This is not the same as won’t which stands for will not.

We also use type 2 for situations in the present or future that are really quite impossible. Look at these:

If I had 50 billion dollars, I would build a big house  and several restaurants in Abuja (I don’t have that kind of money). 

If I were a bird, I would fly to every country in the world. (I am not a bird)

Notice that instead of If I was, we usually say If I were.

Type 3 – Contrary to Fact

Let us take a major point from a story. First which of these statements is true?

1A – Amadi was at his duty post, so the General  did not order his arrest.

1B – Amadi was not at his duty post, so the General ordered his arrest.

The answer obviously is 1B and that is what actually happened. But now we want to use if… sentence to talk about what did NOT happen. For this, we use the words of 1A.

If Amadi had not been at his post, the General would not have ordered his arrest.

That is an example of a Type 3 conditional statement. Note these two major features:

• had + past participle of a verb in the if clause
• would have + past participle of a verb in the main clause.

Sometimes, this type of sentence is known as ‘ contrary to fact’, because it makes us thin of what did not happen.

• The wife is fat and short, while the husband is skinny and tall.
• Why good people die young, whereas bad ones live longer?