2-1. clause constituent adverbial

2-1-1. to-clause as purpose adverbial

  1. Descriptions
    • To-clauses as purpose adverbials indicate the reason or intention behind the main action of a sentence.
    • They are introduced by to or a deleted to
      • Surrey police say the film would help [to] identify participants at the weekend party
  2. Tag
    • tocls+advl is tagged on the main verb of the to-adverbial clause.
  3. Examples
    • To verify this hypothesis, sections of fixed cells were examined.
    • We eat to survive
    • I have brought you all here today to tell you about my evil plan
    • Reforming is the process whereby straight-run gasoline is cracked in order to raise the octane number. (Biber et al., 2007, p. 827)

2-1-2. ing-clause as adverbial

  1. Descriptions
    • An ing-clause when used as an adverbial to modify a verb, an adjective, or an entire sentence. This is often employed to add information about the time, manner, reason, condition, or circumstance of the action described by the main verb.
    • (Dangling particles): Dangling participles occur when a participial phrase (an ing-clause or an ed-clause used adverbially) lacks a clear subject, leading to ambiguity or a mismatch between the intended subject and the grammatical subject of the main clause (p. 829). (HS: should we include this case?) - Running to catch the bus, the wallet fell out of my pocket. (The wallet is not running; the implied subject is the person.)
  2. Tag
    • ingcls+advl is tagged on the main verb of the ing-adverbial clause.
  3. Examples
    • Considering mammals' level of physical development, the diversity of this species is astounding.
    • Running along the beach, she found a rare shell. (time)
    • Feeling hungry, he stopped at the nearest restaurant. (reason)
    • Providing you finish your homework, you can watch TV. (condition)
    • Knowing the risks involved, she still decided to go paragliding. (concession)
    • Speaking softly, he conveyed the bad news.
  4. Discussions
    • Fate was at my elbow urging me to make a choice.
    • Q: Is this a post-modifier (modifying "fate"; describing what "fate" was doing at the elbow) or an adverbial clause (suggesting ‘fate was at my elbow because it was urging me…')?
    • A: We'd call this a non-finite ing-adverbial clause. Normally, these ING clauses should have the same understood subject as the main clause (or else they would be dangling participles - which certainly do occur also…).
  • I was sleeping right under the fan on Chad's bed, with a big bust of Goethe staring at me.
    • Q: Should we categorize with-prepositional phrases that contain ‘-ing' (or ‘-ed') forms acting as adverbials?
    • A: The ‘with'-phrase is definitely a PP-adverbial. But this example is tricky to decide on the function of the ING-clauses. The best guess (based on the context) could be that these are prepositional complement clauses. The NP preceding the ING-verbs is functioning as the subject of the non-finite clause.
  • Feeling rather foolish after having been so easily caught in my attempt to escape from him, which was rather mean since he was a guest and there was no need for me to be ill-mannered just because he was, I agreed.
    • Q: Is … having been caught … an ing-clause? ed-clause? Something else?
    • A: ‘AFTER' is a preposition, and ‘AFTER…' is a PP-adverbial (modifying ‘FEELING'. Then, ‘having …' is an ING non-finite prepositional complement clause.
  • She nodded at him, eyes closing.
    • Q: Does this phrase function as an adverbial clause, clarifying the subject (eyes) to avoid ambiguity or a mismatch between the intended and the grammatical subject?
    • A: Yes. This would be considered a dangling participle (by a prescriptivist).

2-1-3. ed-clause as adverbial

  1. Descriptions
    • An ed-clause can be used as an adverbial to modify a verb, an adjective, or an entire sentence. This is often employed to add information about comparisons between, levels of expectation of, or some other modification of the action described by the main verb.
  2. Tag
    • edcls+advl is tagged on the main verb of the ed-adverbial clause.
  3. Examples
    • When told by police how badly injured his victims were he said: "Good, I hope they die."
    • We measured a seasonal total of 56.99 on precipitation in the two caged rain gauges, compared to 56.78 cm on the open plots.
    • I went on waiting, tinged with doubt.
    • As expected, the volume of retail sales rose 0.5 per cent in August.
  4. Discussions
    • Having been his wife I know it more clearly.
    • Q: Is this an ing-clause? ed-clause? Something else?
    • A: We would call this an -ing (non-finite) adverbial clause.
  • Hirschman has noted that "the assimilation perspective, broadly defined, continues to be the primary theoretical framework…"
    • Q: Does this count as an ed-clause as adverbial, or is it simply modifying perspective?
    • A: We would agree with the second analysis. It is interpreted as that the non-finite -ed clause is modifying the head noun ‘perspective'.
  • Just sacked, or rather resigned, with all that money; the obvious thing to do would be go home to his room or to have a drink.
    • Q: Do we treat the section before the semicolon as a finite clause? If not, are both just sacked and resigned examples of an ed-clause as adverbial?
    • A: This looks like creative writing, and the author is playing with grammar. We'd say ‘just sacked' is a non-finite ed-adverbial clause. And ‘resigned' looks parallel. But it is not possible for someone to ‘BE resigned' in the sense that they were sacked. So, the guess ‘resigned' is an adjective – although it seems the author is intending for us to understand that this has a passive-voice sense (i.e. the person ‘was resigned' by someone).

Adverbial clauses

  • Adverbial clauses modify the main clause by providing additional information such as time, reason, condition, concession, and manner. Commonly introduced by subordinating conjunctions, adverbial clauses are dependent clauses that cannot stand alone as complete sentences.

  • These clauses can appear in various positions within the sentence, either at the beginning, middle, or end, depending on the emphasis and rhythm desired in the discourse.