Adverbial Clauses Reduction of Adverbial clauses to Adverbial

Adverbial Clauses Reduction of Adverbial clauses to Adverbial Phrases

Reduced Adverb Clauses �You can reduce adverb clauses to �present participial phrases (-ing phrases) and �past participial phrases

Step 1: �Make sure that the subject of the adverb clause and the subject of the independent clause are the same: �While Dan was watching the news, he learned about an earthquake in China. �Because Mary was bored, she fell asleep in class.

Step 2: �Delete the subject of the adverb clause. If necessary, move it to the subject position in the independent clause: �While Dan was watching the news, he learned about an earthquake in China. �While Dan was watching the news, he Dan learned about an earthquake in China. �Because Mary was bored, she fell asleep in class.

Step 3: �Delete the helper verb of the adverb clause. �While was watching the news, he Dan learned about an earthquake in China. �Because was bored, she fell asleep in class. �New Sentence: �While watching the news, Dan learned about an earthquake in China. �Because bored, she fell asleep in class.

Step 4: � Delete or retain the subordinator according to the following rules: �Retain before and since when they refer to time. �Delete as when it is a time subordinator. �Delete because, since, and as when they act as reason subordinators. � Because Bored, she fell asleep in class. �Delete after, while, and when if the participial phrase comes before the independent clause, for example � While Watching the news, Dan learned about an earthquake in China. �Retain after, while, and when if the adverbial clause follows the independent clause, for example � Dan learned about an earthquake in China while watching the news.

Step 5: �Re-read your sentence once you have reduced the adverbial clause to a phrase to make sure that its meaning is clear.