281. Adverbial clauses are used in many different relations. Frequently they denote the time when an action is performed; as, “When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing.” Here the clause tells when the birds began to sing, and hence modifies the predicate. It is joined to began to sing by the conjunctive adverb when.

A subordinate connective does not have to come between the elements that it joins. This enables us to put a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence. What is the advantage of such an arrangement?

An adverbial clause of time answers such questions as when? how often? how long? It is joined to what it modifies by the conjunctive adverbs when, while, whenever, or by the subordinating conjunctions before, after, till, until, since, as.

Sometimes, if the connective is when, and the clause comes first, we begin the principal proposition with the simple adverb then, which we call a correlative of when. Illustrate this.

282. The adverbial clause may be used to tell the place where some action is performed; as, “The maid is standing with reluctant feet where the brook and river meet.” Here the clause tells where the maid is standing, and is joined to is standing by the conjunctive adverb where.

An adverbial clause of place answers such questions as in what place? to what place? from what place? It is introduced by the conjunctive adverbs where, whence, whither, wherever. Sometimes there is used in the principal proposition as a correlative of where in the clause. Which of these correlatives is the connective?

283. Frequently the manner of an action, the way in which it was performed, is told by an adverbial clause; as, “Not as the conqueror comes, they the true-hearted came.” What is the clause here? What does it tell? What does it modify? What is the connective? What is the use of not?

A clause of manner answers the question in what way? It is joined to what it modifies by the subordinate conjunction as, as if, or as though. The simple adverb so may be used as a correlative of as.

284. The word like is never a subordinate conjunction, hence it cannot properly be used for as or as if. We should say, “Walk as (not like) I do;” “She walks as if she were tired (not like she was tired).” Like may be used as a preposition to introduce a phrase; as, “Elizabeth walks like him.”

Exercise 1.—Fill the blank in each of these sentences with the proper word, and explain your choice:—

1. Mary sings —— a bird.

2. It looks —— it would rain.

3. The man speaks —— he knew his subject.

4. March came in —— a lion.

5. You knit just —— my grandmother does.

6. The children ate —— they were hungry.

7. Can you dance —— the gypsies do?

8. Plant the seeds exactly —— I told you to.

Summary.—An adverbial clause of time tells when a condition exists, or when an action was performed.

An adverbial clause of place tells where a condition exists, or where an action was performed.

An adverbial clause of manner tells in what way something was done.

The connectives when, where, and as are sometimes accompanied by the correlatives then, there, and so respectively.

Exercise 2.—Select all the adverbial clauses in the following sentences. Tell what each clause denotes, what it modifies, and what its connective is. Study the punctuation of these sentences, and make a rule for the punctuation of adverbial clauses:—

1. Your bicycle is a stationary bit of iron and india rubber, until you put your feet upon the pedals and use your mind to guide the wheel.

2. The old man sits as if he were carved in stone.

3. Where the snowflakes fall thickest, there nothing can freeze.

4. When mother awoke and saw the burglar, she quietly ordered him to leave; and only after she had pursued his obedient figure to the door did it occur to her that the proper thing to do was to scream.

5. Where the peak leaned to the valley, the trunk of a giant pine jutted forth slantingly from a roothold a little below the summit.

6. As we came up the harbor I had noticed that the houses were huddled together on an immense hill.

7.

I have come to meet judges so wise and so grand

That I shake in my shoes while they’re shaking my hand.

8.

She struck where the white and fleecy waves

Looked soft as carded wool.

9. Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge.

10. When the blackbird approached that side of the cage, the goldfinch dashed away as though he feared his strange neighbor might come through.

11.

I love to hear thine earnest voice wherever thou art hid,

Thou testy little dogmatist, thou pretty Katydid!

12. At every little station a man popped out as if he were worked by machinery, and waved a red flag, and appeared as though he would like to have us stop.

13. The little bandy-legged dogs had been trotting steadily for many an hour, until their tongues hung out for want of breath.

14. Years had passed since that particular panther had strayed from his high fastnesses, where game was plentiful and none dared poach on his preserves.

15. I stood up and “hollered” with all my might, as everybody does with oxen, as if they were born deaf, and whacked them with the long lash over the head, just as the big folks did when they drove.