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, since she 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 thunderstorm 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.

N o t e 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)

N o t e 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)

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