Types of Adverbial Clauses With Examples

Adverbial clauses are not at all hard to understand. Once you learn about them you are glad to use them in your day to day conversation.

Basically, an adverbial clause is a subordinate clause or you can also consider it as a dependent clause. It is similar to adverbs and also performs the function of an adverb in a sentence. As you know the adverb is used in a sentence to modify the verb in a sentence. They generally answer questions such as ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘why’ and ‘how’. The adverbial clause can take up to multiple functions because there are different types of clauses.

You can see that different types of adverbial clauses can perform the same function of modifying a verb in the sentence in which they occur. Let’s see what are these types of clauses.

Let’s get to know different types of Adverbial Clauses:

1. Adverbial Clause of Time

It is the first one on the list. This adverbial clause refers to when an action takes place. Let’s see some examples to understand it in a better way.

• As soon as the wife saw her husband, she started packing her bag.
• Before I could complete my work, the visitors had left.
• Just after the church service, all the children went to the zoo.
• He went to bed as soon as he came home from tutions.
• It was when the war ended, most of the families returned to their respective homes.
• While my mother was cooking, I came into the kitchen.
• The thief ran away from the party as soon as they saw the police.
• The coders froze when they saw their website crashing.
• Mohit’s feeding pattern changed since Megha entered his life.
• Until my father came home, nobody could leave the house.

2. Adverbial Clause of Place

This clause refers to the place where this action takes place. For example,

• Austen sat on the couch where her mother had served lunch for her.
• You will go wherever Megha will take you.
• Mohana promised to look for the missing purse wherever she might find it.
• You can place us wherever your company feels convenient.
• It was reported that the plane crashed where it was difficult to get the location of the plane.
• He was traveling to a place where no one could reach him by any means.
• All the cards fell where the makeshift bridge was weak.

3. Adverbial Clause of Manner

It basically refers to the manner in which the action takes place.

• The woman was talking about the word as if she was the leader of the team.
• The choir was singing the song as though heaven would fail.
• She used to perform the dance just like a professional dancer.

4. Adverbial Clause of Reason

With this clause, you can know the reason for the action and verb expressions. With subordinating conjunctions such as that, because, since and as.

Let’s see the examples to understand it in a better way.

• The woman worked hard because she had debts to clear.
• Just because he has money, he might believe that he can get away with the crime.
• She was in complete denial with the entrance as she could not pay the required fees.

5. Adverbial Clause of Condition

This clause usually shows the condition of the verb which is used in the main clause. The words that can be used in this adverbial clause are: Let us check some examples to understand it in a better way.:

• I could attend the event only when I am personally invited by the host.
• It does not matter whether she likes the gift or not, she would have to wear it.
• There would not be any need to go to the court if the case is settled.

Conclusion:

Now, you will have to note that the adverbial clause is the group of words that play the role of the adverbs but it will contain a subject and the verb. Englishbix is an educational website where you can find all the solutions related to English.