Adverbial clauses.

An adverbial clause performs the function of an adverbial modifier. It can modify a verb, an adjective or an adverb in the principal clause.

He stopped as Kravat came rushing out. (Heym)

He was getting on better than he'd expected. (Lindsay)

Frank... returned to the auction room as fast as his legs would carry him. (Dreiser)

According to their meaning we distinguish the following kinds of adverbial clauses: adverbial clauses of time, place, cause (reason), pur­pose, condition, concession, result, manner, and comparison.

Adverbial clauses are joined to the principal clause by means of subordinating conjunctions; they are not joined to the principal clause asyndetically except sometimes adverbial clauses of condi­tion.

An adverbial clause may precede the clause to which it is subor­dinated or follow it. In the first case it is separated from the principal clause by a comma, in the second, as a rule, no comma is used. An adverbial clause may also interrupt the principal clause, in which case a comma is used at the beginning and at the end of it.

When things are at the worst, they're sure to mend. (Collins)

He was sipping the whisky and soda when she retui ned, (Cronin)

The first words, when we had taken our seats, were spoken by my lady. (Collins)

If we have two or more homogeneous adverbial clauses they are separated from each other by a comma.

He (Oliver) was still the same gentle, attached, affectionate crea­ture that he had been when pain and suffering had wasted his strength, and when he was dependent for every slight attention and comfort on those who tended him. ( Dickens)

§ 12. Adverbial clauses of time.

An adverbial clause of time shows the time of the action expressed in the principal clause. Adverbial clauses of time are introduced by the following conjunctions: when, while, whenever (когда бы ни), as, till, until, as soon as, as long as, since, after; before, now that (теперь, когда).

My mother died when I was eight years old... (Eliot)

... we must strike while the iron's hot. (Galsworthy)

I shall hope to visit you whenever I happen to be in London. (Collins)

There was still a gleam of sunset in the west as he strolled along. (Cronin)

Jan waved till the taxi disappeared round the bend in the road. (Cusack)

After this, they conversed on different subjects until they arrived at their journey's end. (Dickens)

But as soon as I saw Susan I stopped noticing my surround­ings. (Braine)

You can stay here as long as you want. (Hemingway)

She (June) had given him nothing of her company for a long time past, not in fact, sinceshe had become engaged to Bosinney. (Galsworthy)

There was scarcely time for him to swallow a cup of tea in the refreshment room before the southbound train was signalled. (Cronin)

This is the claim I make on you, now that we have found each other. (Eliot)

In some cases an adverbial clause of time introduced by the con­junction as has the meaning of the gradual development of a process.

As dark night drew on, the sea roughened. (Ch. Bronte)

Adverbial clauses in sentences of the following type are also clauses of time:

Scarcely had his hands touched her head, when she sighed deeply. (London)

Hardly had they entered the house, when a violent thunder storm broke out.

No sooner had I wiped one salt drop from my cheek, than another followed. (Ch. Bronte)

The peculiarity of such sentences is that the conjunctions when and than introducing adverbial clauses of time are correlated with the adverbs scarcely, hardly and no sooner in the principal clause.

Note 1. The conjunction when introducing adverbial clauses of time should not be confused with the adverb when introducing subject clauses, predicative clauses, object clauses, and attributive relative clauses. Com­pare the following examples:

And people love their homes, even when things are tough. (Gow and D'Usseau) (ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF TIME)

The next thing to discover is when the paint was last seen without that smear. (Collins) (PREDICATIVE CLAUSE)

Nothing told her when the eyes of her friend were for an instant fixed upon her, when the mind of her friend for a moment won­dered at the strange, new look in her face. (Hichens) (OBJECT CLAUSE)

There were moments when I felt all the misery of my friendlessness, all the peril of my dreadful responsibility. (Collins) (ATTRIBU­TIVE RELATIVE CLAUSE)

Note 2. Adverbial clauses of time introduced by the subordinating conjunction while should not be confused with independent clauses in­troduced by the coordinating conjunction while.

There was a pause while he raised his cup and drank some tea. (Cronin) (ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF TIME)

His face was disturbed and troubled, while his clothes were disarranged and untidy. (Conan Doyle) (INDEPENDENT CLAUSE)