Chapter LXX: Adverbial Clauses of Time, Place, and Manner

=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.