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Before Fearing Adverb Phrases,
Read This |
When you woke up this morning, you probably did at least
five things before you left your home for school or
work. Maybe you ate breakfast, took a shower, brushed
your teeth, put on your clothes, and looked at the news
or internet.
For each thing you did, you did something else before,
during or after those other things. For example:
Before I ate breakfast, I did 20 minutes of yoga.
“Before I ate breakfast” is an adverb clause. In an
earlier program, we told you about adverb clauses.
Today, we will show you how to shorten these clauses.
Shortened adverb clauses often sound more natural and
concise in English.
We call the shortened clauses “modifying adverbial
phrases.” But, that name is needlessly complex for a
grammar structure that is often easy for many English
learners.
Listen to the example again:
Before I ate breakfast, I did 20 minutes of yoga.
Here is how we shorten it:
Before eating breakfast, I did 20 minutes of yoga.
Two things are different: we removed the subject “I” and
changed “ate” to the -ing form “eating.”
Notice that we only reduced the adverb clause, not the
main clause; the main clause -- “I did 20 minutes of
yoga” – stays the same.
And, here’s something you may recall from an earlier
program: an adverb clause or phrase need not appear
before the main clause of a sentence. That means “I did
20 minutes of yoga before eating breakfast” has the same
meaning as “Before eating breakfast, I did 20 minutes of
yoga.”
There are three types of adverb clauses that can be
reduced: time, cause and effect and contrast.
Time clauses
Not all time clauses can be reduced. They must begin
with certain time words, like before, after, while,
when, since or as soon as.
OK, now test your knowledge on our next example, using
while. Listen:
While I was listening to the news, I made a cup of tea.
How can we reduce this clause? Here’s how:
While listening to the news, I made a cup of tea.
So, what's different? Again, we removed the subject.
And, this example contains “was,” so we removed it also.
In modifying adverbial phrases, we omit forms of be. The
verb “listen” is already in -ing form, so we did not
change it.
Sometimes, we can even remove the word “while” in a time
clause and still express its meaning, which is “during
the same time.” Listen:
Listening to the news, I made a cup of tea.
This option is, however, less common, except in some
forms of writing.
Cause & effect clauses
Next up are cause and effect adverb clauses. These
clauses begin with words like “because” or “since” and
express the cause or reason for something; the main
clause gives the result.
Here is an example:
Because she needed to study for the exam, she stayed at
the library.
To reduce this, we remove the cause word: “because.”
And, again, we remove the subject (“she”) and we change
the verb “needed” to the ‘ing form, “needing.”
Needing to study for the exam, she stayed at the
library.
But, what if the cause and effect clause contains the
present* perfect verb tense? Listen to an example:
Because he had been to that museum before, he didn’t
want to go again.
And here’s how we reduce it:
Having been to that museum before, he didn’t want to go
again.
We removed the word “because” and the subject “he.” And,
we changed the present perfect “had been” to “having
been.”
Contrast clauses
Finally, we have contrast clauses. These clauses begin
with words like “though,” “although” and “despite.” They
express an unexpected result between information in the
adverb clause and main clause.
Here's an example:
Though he was tired, Joe gave us a ride to the game.
And, when we reduce it:
Though tired, Joe gave us a ride to the game.
Did you notice what changed? For contrast clauses, we
keep the contrast word--in this case, "though." But
again, we remove the subject. And we remove “was,” a
form of be.
Why is the subject removable?
So, how can the meaning of a sentence be clear if we
remove the subject from the adverb clause? Because the
subject of the adverb clause and the subject of the main
clause are the same. If the subjects are different, the
adverb clause cannot be reduced. Just for fun, listen to
an example of such:
While I was biking to work, a squirrel jumped into the
street.
The subject of the adverb clause is “I” and the subject
of the main clause is “squirrel.”
And it reduces to this:
While biking to work, a squirrel jumped into the street.
But that is silly! Squirrels do not ride bikes or have
jobs!
Well, that’s all the time we have today. Having read
this story, do you want to try reducing adverb clauses?
We hope so.
I’m Alice Bryant.
Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. Caty
Weaver was the editor.
*past perfect |
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Additional Information |
Modifying Adverbial Phrases
Time Clauses:
1. Remove the subject.
2. If there is a be form of the verb, remove it.
3. If there is NO be form of a verb, change the verb to
-ing.
4. If there is a present or past perfect verb, change it
to having + past participle.
Cause & Effect Clauses:
1. Remove the subject.
2. Remove the word “because” or “since”
3. Change the verb to -ing form.
4. If there is a present or past perfect verb, change it
to having + past participle.
Contrast Clauses:
1. Remove the subject.
2. If there is a be form of the verb, remove it.
3. If there is a present or past perfect verb, change it
to having + past participle. |
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Now, you try it! Tell us about your morning using
adverbial phrases: What did you do before, after,
during, because of or despite something else? |
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Source: Voice of America |
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