An adverbial clause is a type of subordinate clause. It does the work of an adverb in a sentence (it describes or gives more information about the verb, the adverb or the adjective in the main clause.) Adverbial clauses tell you about when something happened (time); where (place), how (manner), why (reason), how much or how often (degree).
Examples:
- They decided to go when the rain had stopped. (When did they decide to go? When the rain had stopped. This is the adverbial clause)
- She found her scarf where she had dropped it. (Where did she find it? Where she had dropped it.)
- He worked as hard as he could to free the animal. (How hard did he work? As hard as he could.)
- We didn’t want to leave because we were enjoying ourselves so much. (Why didn’t we want to leave? Because we were enjoying ourselves so much.)
The adverbial clause may come first or last in the sentence.
Examples:
- I fetched the book as I needed it for homework.
- His grandmother was so happy that she cried.
- Ella put on her hat so that she would not get sunburnt.
- If you go down that path, you could get lost.
- Unless Funeka takes her library books back today, she will get a fine.
