Hi. Welcome back
to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's lesson we're going
to look at the adverb clause. Okay? Now, this is one of the dependent
clauses that we're going to look at. I also have a lesson about noun
clauses and adjective clauses. I have a lesson about the independent clause,
which is different from all of these. Today we're looking at the adverb clause, which
depends on the grammar book you're using. Again, they like to
use different words. Some people call this
the subordinate clause. "Subordinate" meaning under.
Right? "Sub" means under, it's under the
independent clause, means it's... The independent clause is the more important
one, the subordinate clause is the second. Now, the thing to remember about adverb clauses:
What makes them different from noun clauses or adjective clauses is that
they don't modify words. Okay? A noun clause modifies or acts as a specific
function to something in the independent clause. It could be the subject, it could be
the object of the verb, for example. Or it could be a complement. But it's always working with some
other word in the independent clause. The adjective clause-excuse me-always modifies
or identifies a noun in the sentence, in the clause, etc. The adverb clause shows a relationship, and
that's very, very important to remember because the subordinate conjunctions, the words that
join the clause to the independent clause has a very specific function. The two clauses, the independent clause and
the subordinate clause have a very distinct relationship. Okay? So here are some of those relationships: Reason,
contrast, condition, time, purpose, and comparison. Okay? There are others, but we're going to focus on
these because these are the more common ones. And there are many conjunctions, but I'm only
going to give you a few here just so you have an idea how the
adverb clause works. Okay? So, for example, when we're
looking at reason... Okay? Before I give you actual sentence examples,
I'm going to talk to you about the conjunctions. These are called the
subordinate conjunctions. They very clearly show the relationship between
the clauses, so you have to remember that. So: "because", okay? "Because" means reason. So, I did something
because I had to do it. Okay? So: "I did something"-independent
clause-"because"-why?-"I had to do it". I had no choice. That's the relationship
between the two. "Since" can also mean "because". "Since", of course, can also mean since the
beginning of something, since a time, but it can also mean "because" when we're
using it as an adverb clause conjunction. Contrast. "Contrast" means to show
that there's a difference. Now, it could be yes/no, positive/negative,
but it doesn't have to be. It could be one idea and
then a contrasting idea. One expectation, and one
completely different result. Okay? You have to be very careful not to look for a
positive or a negative verb, or a positive or negative anything else, but we're
going to look at examples for that. The more common conjunctions for that is:
"although" or "though"-both are okay, mean the same
thing-or "whereas". Okay? "Although I am very rich, I can't
afford to buy a Lamborghini." Okay? So, "rich" means lots of money. "Can't afford" means
not enough money. Contrasting ideas. They're a little bit opposite
from what one expects. Contrast, reason. Condition. "Condition" means one thing must be
true for something else to be true. So, for the part of the independent clause
to be true-the situation, the action, the event, whatever-then the
condition must first be true. "If I were a... If I were a rich man, I
would buy a Lamborghini." But I'm... Even though I am a rich man... Although I am a rich
man, I can't afford one. So we use "if", "as long as". Again, there are others. Time. This is another relationship. When did something happen? We use "when", we use "while", we
use other conjunctions as well. "I will call you
when I get home." So this call that I will make to you
will happen at the time that I get home. That's the relationship
between the two. Purpose. "I asked my boss for a pay raise so
that I could afford my Lamborghini." Which I can't afford now. Comparison, if I want
to compare two things. Now, you have to be very careful with comparisons
because they don't always have to take a clause. But if you're comparing clause to clause,
if you're comparing action to action, then you must use a comparison conjunction
with an adverb clause to show. So: "I am not as able
to do this as she is." Right? "I am not as able as
she"-subject-"is", verb. Comparing two situations,
two actions, etc. So now that we see some of the relationships
we can use and some of the conjunctions we can use, let's look at some sentence
examples to see how this works. Okay, let's look at
some examples now. I'm going to show you some dos and don'ts;
things you should do, things you should not do. But again, everything has an
exception, we'll talk about that. Let's look at three
independent clauses. "I love pizza." Very simple. "I love pizza.",
"I rarely eat it." I very, very seldom... I almost never eat pizza. "It's unhealthy." "It" being pizza. Now, I want to combine all of these things
together, but I want to make sure that there's a relationship between these two and
this one, maybe even this one. Okay? "Although I love pizza," so right
away you're expecting a contrast. "I love pizza." So you're thinking if I love
pizza, I eat it every day. Right? Well, right away you
understand probably not. There's going to be a
contrast coming up. "I rarely eat it". I love it, I rarely eat it. It doesn't make sense.
They're opposites. Well, there's your
opposite conjunction. Why do I rarely eat it?
"...because it's unhealthy." So, I rarely eat it even though I love
it, there's your contrast, because... There's your reason
and why rarely eat. Okay? I have a contrast between how I feel
about pizza and how often I eat it. I have a reason of why I rarely
eat it because it's unhealthy. So this sentence is perfect,
everything works well together. Another thing to keep in mind: One
sentence can have many adverb clauses. As many relationships as you need,
you can put into a sentence. Again, once your sentence gets too long with too
many clauses going on, then you're starting to get a little bit
confusing to your reader. Now, another thing I want to mention:
You'll notice the comma here. Generally speaking, when you begin a
sentence with an adverb clause... Generally speaking, you're
going to put a comma. Now, in today's writing, more and
more writers don't like commas. If they can avoid it... If I can take it out and still make sense,
and it's still very clear and very easy to understand what's going
on, take it out. If you're not sure, if you're starting a sentence
with an adverb, just put a comma at the end of the adverb clause before
your independent clause. When you get into mixed sentences where you
have clauses inside clauses, then it starts becoming more confusing, but it's still very
logical, but I'll do that in a separate lesson. Embedded clauses that everything
sort of mixes up together. You have all three
clauses in one sentence. It's a little confusing. Let's look at this sentence: "I rarely eat pizza,
although I love it, because it's unhealthy." Now, if you're saying this sentence, if you're speaking
it, no problem, the person will understand you. This is not a good sentence to
write out, in written English. Why? Because sometimes you want to place your
clauses in a relationship that makes sense. "I rarely eat pizza, although
I love it", okay, no problem. But if I put: "because it's unhealthy", now,
the "because" is about the rarely eat, not about the "I love it". I don't love it because
it's unhealthy. I love it because it... Well, it's delicious. I don't eat it because
it's unhealthy. So you have to be very careful about
positioning your adverb clauses. Make sure that the
relationship makes sense. In this case, because this
one is connected to this... To this clause, it seems to go together and
it seems to show the relationship there. Again, when you're speaking
it, then you will say: "I rarely eat pizza, although I
love it, because it's unhealthy." So then to the person
listening, this goes with this. This is the actual sentence,
and this is an aside. But very difficult to make
a reader understand that. So go with the logical connections,
try to put adverb clauses... Or try to put clauses together so
that the relationship is very clear. Okay? Now, let's look at this one. Just I want to drive this
home about the relationship. It's so important to understand the
relationships between clauses. "Although I love pizza
I eat it often." Now, does this
sentence make sense? No, of course not. Because the reader or even the listener in
this case, as soon as the reader or listener hears this word they're listening for two
opposite things, two contrasting ideas, or actions, or whatever the case. So: "love", good;
"eat often", good. Positive, positive. There's no contrast. Right? So the thing you
have to remember... So, what's the
relationship here? "Because". "Because I love pizza
I eat it often." Notice here I didn't
put the comma. With "because", very uncommon to use
the comma, but again, you could. You don't need to because it's
very clear, the relationship. It's very clear you have
two separate clauses here. Leave it out, it's fine. Okay. Let's look at some
more examples. Okay, a couple more notes
I want to mention. Usually adverb clauses can go-excuse me-at the
beginning of a sentence, or in the middle, or at the end, etc. You can put it pretty
much anywhere. However, in some cases it's
recommended to put it in the middle after the independent clause. So, for example: "Joe took a week off work so
that his wife could take a training course." So he took a week off for the
purpose of giving his wife time. Now, can I begin this sentence: "So that his wife could take a training
course, Joe took a week off work"? Can I say that? Yes. Do I want to say that? No. I would rather start with this, because the
purpose first of all is more important than what he did. Okay? Unless I want to stress the time
off, then I would switch it. But generally, with "so that", I always put the
actual purpose second and the first action first, because you
always do something... It's like cause and effect. Why do you do this? For this purpose. So it has a logical flow. But again, you don't have to, you could put it
at beginning, put the comma, finish it off, perfectly okay. Now, one last thing
I want to mention. You can have sentences that have
adverb clauses within adverb clauses. It can be a little bit confusing, but again,
as long as you make sure you understand the relationships between all
the pieces, it works out. "You should stay home because if you
go there there will be trouble." Okay? You should stay home because
there will be trouble. But there will only
be trouble if you go. So, basically, what
am I doing here? I'm emphasizing the
first part: Stay home. If you don't stay home,
there will be trouble. So you should stay home because if you
don't there will be trouble. Right? So here the confusing part for
some people is: "because if". You have two conjunctions. Right? So, basically, what is going on here:
This whole thing is the reason. Okay? "You should stay home". Now,
the thing you want to do, you want to count your
subjects and verbs. Subject: "You should stay". Okay? That's one clause. "Because there will
be", subject and verb. Well, subject... Sorry, this is the conjunction
and verb, and subject and verb. As long as you have different clauses,
each of these conjunctions... This conjunction has a clause,
this conjunction has a clause. They both work, they
both work together. "Because there will be
trouble" is too general. "Because if you go there
will be trouble". I want to emphasize the going,
which is why you should stay home. Okay? So it works. But, again, I'm going to look at
more deeply at embedded clauses... I'm going to... You can watch
that in a different lesson. It's very... It's a little bit confusing. It's definitely very advanced grammar, but you
can watch it there and try to get a better idea. Because sometimes, especially if you're reading
academic material, you'll see very long sentences with like five,
six, seven clauses; noun clauses, adjective clauses, adverb clauses,
adverb clause inside an adjective clause. All kinds of mixed sentences. As long as you can break all the pieces down,
as long as you can understand the function of each word, each clause, each phrase, you
can understand any sentence in English. Okay? So, if you like this lesson, please
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discussion board. Ask me any question,
I'll gladly answer it. There's also a quiz where you can
practice some of these adverb clauses and see more example sentences. And I'll see you next time. Bye.
