Material about Adverbial Clause (Materi Tentang Adverbial Clause)

An adverbial Clause is a dependent clause that functions as an adverb. In other words, it contains a subject (explicit or implied) and a predict and it modifies a verb.

Example:

·         I saw Amber when I went to the market  (Explicit Subject  I )

·         When we were in Borobudur Temple, we saw several foreign tourists. When we were in Borobudur Temple is Adverbial Clause.

When an adverbial clause precedes an independent clause,  it uses a coma (,) , it means that  is used to separate the clause.

See another example bellow!

1.       When we were in Magelang, we go to Ketep Pass.

2.       We go to Ketep Pass when we were in Magelang.

• when we were in Magelang is an adverbial clause.

• As the PUNCTUATION;

What are the differences of both sentences above?

Let’s look the first sentence (1)!

When we were in Magelang,  we go to Ketep Pass.

After adverbial clause (when we were in Magelang), there is a comma (,) then its function is used to separate the clauses.

Then, let’s look the second  (2) sentence!

We go to Ketep Pass when we were in Magelang.

Adverbial clause (when we were in Magelang) is in the last sentence. We do not see a comma (,), it means that no comma is used in second sentence.

Let’s see another example!

1.  Because she was tired, she went to rest area. (use comma (,) after adverbial clause)

She went to rest area because she was tired. (no comma (,) is used)

•          adverbial Clause:  Because she was tired

Well... do you understand? Hopefully, you will answer, “Yes, I do.”

After that, let’s look the bellow example, this is different with above examples because it is incorrect adverbial clause.

Example:

•   When we were in Borobudur temple. We saw several foreign tourists. (Incorrect)

• She went to rest area. Because she was tired. (incorrect)

Adverbial clauses are dependent clauses, they cannot stand by themself. They cannot be alone as a sentence in written English. Adverbial clauses have to be connected to an independent clause.

You can distinguish the sentence bellow, which is the correct pattern?

• When we were in Borobudur Temple, we saw several foreign tourists. (Correct)

• When we were in Borobudur temple. We saw several foreign tourists. (Incorrect)

* She went to rest area because she was tired. (correct)

*Because she was tired, she went to rest area. (correct)

*She went to rest area. Because she was tired. (incorrect)

For remember, making a sentence using adverbial clause needs ‘subordinating conjunctions.’ Subordinating conjunctions are the words that introduce adverb clauses.

There are summary list of words used to introduce adverb clauses;

Kinds of Clauses	Common Conjunctions
Time	After Before When While As As soon as Since Until	by the time (that) once as/ so long as whenever every time (that) the first time  (that) the last time (that) the nest time (that)
Cause and Effect	Because Now that since
Contrast	Even though Although Though
Direct Contrast	While Whereas
Condition	If Unless Only if Whether or not Even if In case In the event that