Adverbial clauses An adverbial clause begins with a
subordinating conjunction—sometimes called a trigger word. In the examples below, the adverbial clause is italicized and the subordinating conjunction is bolded: :Mary, the aspiring actress, became upset as soon
as she saw the casting list. ::(subject:
she; predicate:
saw the casting list; the clause modifies the verb
became) :Peter, the drama teacher, met with Mary
after she calmed down. ::(explicit subject:
she; predicate:
calmed down; predicate (verb):
calmed; the clause modifies the verb
met) :We left
before the speeches ended. ::(adverbial clause; contains subject and predicate) According to Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk (
Greenbaum and
Quirk, 1990), adverbial clauses function mainly as adverbial
adjuncts or
disjuncts but differ in syntax from
adverbial phrases and adverbial
prepositional phrases, as indicated below.
Adverbial phrases Unlike adverbial clauses, adverbial phrases contain neither an explicit subject nor a predicate. In the examples below, the adverbial phrase is italicized and the
adposition is bolded: :Mary, the aspiring actress, became upset
as one of the casting list rejects. :Peter, the drama teacher, met with Mary
after seeing her disappointment. :We left
before the speeches. ==Types==