Adverbial Clauses Explained: 9 Types of Adverbial Clauses

An adverbial clause, also known as an adverb clause, is a group of words that forms a dependent clause and acts as an adverb in a sentence. Adverbial clauses contain a subject, a predicate, and a subordinating conjunction. As with other adverbs, adverbial clauses modify an adjective, a verb, or another adverb.

Adverb clauses explain time, place, manner, purpose, and more in a sentence. These clauses begin with a trigger word—more formally known in English grammar as a subordinating conjunction. Examples of subordinating conjunctions include “after,” “in order to,” “as,” “before,” “where,” and “while,” as in the sentence “He arrived after we had breakfast.” “After” is the subordinating conjunction, “we” is the subject, and “had started breakfast” is the predicate, modifying the verb “arrived.”

Adverbial clauses contain a subject and a predicate, as in the example sentence “We go to the shore because we own a home there.” The “because” is the start of the adverbial clause, “we” is the subject, and “own a home there” is the predicate.

On the other hand, adverbial phrases contain neither a subject nor a predicate, as in “We left the shore the week before.” In that sentence, “the week before” operates as an adverb phrase, modifying when the subjects left the shore, but no subject or predicate is used.

There are several different types of adverbial clauses, each with its own set of common conjunctions and functions:

1. 1. Manner: These adverbial clauses often use “as” or “like” to explain how something is done. For example, “The politician seemed as if he had never spoken publicly before.” Here, “as if” is the trigger word, “he” is the subject, and “had never spoken publicly before” is the predicate.
2. 2. Time: Adverbial clauses addressing time often contain the words “until,” “before,” “after,” “as long as,” and “while” answer when something happens. For example, “They hiked before they ate dinner.”
3. 3. Purpose: These adverb clauses highlight the intention behind an action, often using conjunctions such as “so that,” “lest you,” “in order to,” and “in case.” These adverbial clauses do not follow a comma, as in the sentence, “They drove to the farm so that they could pick apples.”
4. 4. Place: Adverbial clauses of place use the trigger words “where” and “wherever,” as in “The puppy followed me wherever I went.”
5. 5. Condition: Conditional adverb clauses play out the potential outcomes of a situation and use subordinating conjunctions such as “if,” “provided that,” and “lest.” For example, “We will go to the zoo if it is sunny.”
6. 6. Reason: Cause or reason adverb clauses explain the why, using subordinating conjunctions such as “because,” “since,” and “as.” For example, “We thought you’d go to the concert since you love Vivladi’s music.”
7. 7. Comparison: These adverbial clauses highlight quality and quantity with conjunctions like “than” and “as.” An example of a comparison adverbial clause is, “He can bake as well as his grandmother.”
8. 8. Concession: Concession adverb clauses will have a comma separating two independent clauses that contrast one another. For example, “I like to bike, though I don’t do it much these days.” You can also use a comma in the case of a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence: “Although it was hot, the pool kept us cool.”
9. 9. Results: These clauses have a start and an end, relying on subordinating conjunctions “so,” “that,” and “such.” For example, “The kitten was so cute that I had to buy it.”

The following sentences show examples of adverb clauses:

1. 1. “She walked slowly on the tightrope so that she wouldn’t fall.” In this sentence, “so that” is the common conjunction showing the purpose of the main clause “She walked slowly.” The second “she” is the subject, “on the tightrope” is a prepositional phrase, and “she wouldn’t fall” is the predicate.
2. 2. “Even though New York was noisy, we found some quiet in Central Park.” This sentence highlights the concession type of adverbial clause via the use of the “even though.”
3. 3. “He studied French before he learned the English language.” This adverb clause illustrates time through the trigger word “before.” The second “he” is the subject, and “learned the English language” is the predicate.

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