ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
Adverb and adverbial are similiar but not the same.
Thought they share the same modifying function, their characters are different.
An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions as an adverb. In other
words, it contains a subject (explicit or implied) and a predicate, and it modifies a verb.
- I saw Joe when I went to the store. (explicit subject I)
- He sat quietly in order to appear polite. (implied subject he)
According to Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk,
adverbial clauses function mainly as adjuncts or disjuncts. In these functions they are like adverbial phrases, but due to their potentiality for greater
explicitness, they are more often like prepositional phrases (Greenbaum and Quirk,1990):
- We left after the speeches ended. (adverbial clause)
- We left after the end of the speeches. (adverbial prepositional phrase)
- I like to fly kites for fun.
Adverbial clauses modify verbs, adjectives or other
adverbs. For example:
- Hardly had I reached the station when the train started to leave the platform.
The adverbial clause in this sentence is "when
the train started to leave the platform" because it is a subordinate clause and because it has the trigger word
(subordinate conjunction) "when".
Kinds of adverbial clauses
kind of
clause
|
common
conjunctions
|
Function
|
example
|
time
clauses
|
when, before,
after, since, while, as, as long as, until,till, etc. (conjunctions that
answer the question "when?"); hardly, scarcely, no sooner, etc.
|
These
clauses are used to say when something happens by referring to a period of
time or to another event.
|
Her goldfish
died when she was young.
|
conditional
clauses
|
if,
unless, lest
|
These
clauses are used to talk about a possible or counterfactual situation and its
consequences.
|
If they
lose weight during an illness, they soon regain it afterwards.
|
purpose clauses
|
in order
to, so that, in order that
|
These
clauses are used to indicate the purpose of an action.
|
They had
to take some of his land so that they could extend the churchyard.
|
reason
clauses
|
because,
since, as, given
|
These
clauses are used to indicate the reason for something.
|
I couldn't
feel anger against him because I liked him too much.
|
result
clauses
|
so...that
|
These
clauses are used to indicate the result of something.
|
My
suitcase had become so damaged on the journey home that the lid would not stay
closed.
|
concessive
clauses
|
although,
though, while
|
These
clauses are used to make two statements, one of which contrasts with the
other or makes it seem surprising.
|
I used to
read a lot although I don't get much time for books now.
|
place
clauses
|
where,
wherever, anywhere, everywhere, etc. (conjunctions that answer the question
"where?")
|
These
clauses are used to talk about the location or position of something.
|
He said he
was happy where he was.
|
clauses of
manner
|
as, like,
the way
|
These
clauses are used to talk about someone's behaviour or the way something is
done.
|
I was
never allowed to do things as I wanted to do them.
|
in
grammar
an adverbial is a word (an adverb) or a group of words (an adverbial
phrase or an adverbial clause) that modifies or tells us
something about the sentence or the verb. The word adverbial
is also used as an adjective, meaning 'having the same function as an adverb'.
EXERCISE
Combine the
following sentences using adverb clauses at the beginning of the sentence.
- Frank started medical training. He drove a forklift for a living.
- The rains had started the mud slides. The homes were not safe to live in.
- Older people love to sit in the park. They feed the birds and visit.
- I enjoyed camping out. I was much younger.
- Joe recognised the man. The man had stopped his car to help.
Answer
1. Before Frank started medical training, he
drove a forklift for a living.
2.
Because the rains
had started the mud slides, the homes were not safe to live in.
3.
While they feed
the birds and visit, older people love to sit in the park.
4.
When I was much
younger, I enjoyed camping out.
5.
After the man had stopped his car to
help, Joe recognised him.
Direct-Indirect speech
Direct speech, Saying exactly what someone
has said is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech)
Here what a person says appears within quotation
marks ("...") and should be word for word.
For example:
She said, "Today's lesson is on
presentations."
or
"Today's lesson is on presentations,"
she said.
Indirect speech, also called reported
speech or indirect discourse, is a means of expressing the content of
statements, questions or other utterances, without quoting them explicitly as is done in direct
speech. For example, He said "I'm coming" is direct
speech, whereas He said he was coming is indirect speech.
In terms of grammar, indirect
speech often makes use of certain syntactic structures such as content
clauses ("that" clauses, such as (that) he was coming),
and sometimes infinitive phrases. References to questions in
indirect speech frequently take the form of interrogative content clauses, also
called indirect questions (such as whether he was
coming).
In indirect speech certain grammatical categories are changed relative to
the words of the original sentence. For example, person may change as a result of a change of speaker
or listener (as I changes to he in the example above). In some
languages, including English, the tense
of verbs is often changed – this is often called sequence of tenses. Some languages have a change
of mood: Latin switches from indicative
to the infinitive
(for statements) or the subjunctive (for questions).
When written, indirect speech is not normally
enclosed in quotation marks or any similar typographical devices
for indicating that a direct quotation is being made. However such devices are
sometimes used to indicate that the indirect speech is a faithful quotation of
someone's words (with additional devices such as square
brackets and ellipses to indicate deviations or omissions from those
words), as in He informed us that "after dinner [he] would like to make
an announcement".
In indirect speech, words generally have referents
appropriate to the context in which the act of reporting takes place, rather
than that in which the speech act being reported took place (or is conceived as
taking place). The two acts often differ in reference point (origo) – the point in
time and place and the person speaking – and also in the person being addressed
and the linguistic context. Thus when a sentence involves words or forms whose
referents depend on these circumstances, they are liable to change when the
sentence is put into indirect speech. In particular this commonly affects:
- personal pronouns, such as I, you, he, we, and the corresponding verb forms (in pro-drop languages the meaning of the pronoun may be conveyed solely by verb inflection).
- demonstratives, such as this, that.
- phrases of relative time or place such as now, yesterday, here.
There may also be a change of tense or other modifications to the form of the
verb, such as change of mood. These changes depend on the grammar of the
language in question – some examples can be found in the following sections.
It should be noted that indirect speech need not
refer to a speech act that has actually taken place; it may concern future or
hypothetical discourse; for example, If you ask him why he's wearing that
hat, he'll tell you to mind your own business. Also, even when referring to
a known completed speech act, the reporter may deviate freely from the words
that were actually used, provided the meaning is retained. This contrasts with
direct speech, where there is an expectation that the original words will be
reproduced exactly.
Examples
Some examples of changes in form in indirect
speech in English are given below. See also Sequence of tenses.
- It is raining hard.
She says that
it is raining hard. (no change)
She said
that it was raining hard. (change of tense when the main verb is past
tense)
- I have painted the ceiling blue.
He said that he
had painted the ceiling blue. (change of person and tense)
- I will come to your party tomorrow.
I said that I
would come to his party the next day. (change of tense, person and time
expression)
- How do people manage to live in this city?
I asked him how
people managed to live in that city. (change of tense and question syntax,
and of demonstrative)
- Please leave the room.
I asked them to
leave the room. (use of infinitive phrase)
The tense changes illustrated above (also called backshifting),
which occur because the main verb ("said", "asked") is in
the past tense, are not obligatory when the situation described is still valid.
- Ed is a bore.
She said that
Ed was/is a bore.(optional change of tense)
- I am coming over to watch television.
Benjamin said
that he is/was coming over to watch television. (change of person, optional
change of tense)
In these sentences the original tense can be used
provided that it remains equally valid at the time of the reporting of the
statement (Ed is still considered a bore; Benjamin is still expected to come
over).
Exercise
Change the following
sentences from direct speech to reported speech :
1. David
: "There is an excellent band playing later on."
2. Christine
: "I saw Amy at the bank on Monday."
3. The
driver : "I'm going to turn right at the traffic lights."
4. The
doctor : "I'll send you the results as soon as they arrive."
5. Jack
: "I'll lend you my grammar book if you think it will help.
Answer
1. David
said there was an excellent bank playing later on.
2. Christine
said she had seen Amy at the bank on Monday.
3. The
driver said he was going to turn right at the traffic lights.
4. The
doctor said he would send me/us the results as soon as they arrived.
5. Jack
said he would lend me his grammar book if I thought it would
help.
Source
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