REDUCING ADVERBIAL

CLAUSES

Time and reason

Reducing Adverbial Clauses
Adverbial clauses of time and reason can be reduced to
adverb phrases without any changes in meaning, but you
have to observe the following:
a. The subjects of both clauses must be the same;
otherwise, reduction is not possible.
b. The subject of the dependent clause and the be form of
the verb are always deleted.
c. If there is no be form of a verb, the verb form is changed
to verb -ing form or verb -ed form.
d. Retaining the conjunction is sometimes optional in time
clauses.
NOTES
a. With before, after, since, and
when: 1. Before she had a heart attack,
- delete the subject; she was happy at the nursing
- change the verb to a verb-ing form; home.
- sometimes the clause can be 2. Before having a heart attack, ...
reduced to a prepositional phrase.

b. With while:
- delete the subject;
- change the verb to a verb-ing
form;
- while may be deleted when the
meaning is “at the same time”.
c. With as:
- as must be deleted;
- the phrase must come at the
beginning of the sentence.
1. She had a heart attack while
she was visiting her daughter.
2. While visiting her daughter, ...
3. Visiting her daughter, ...
1. She had a heart attack as she
was visiting her daughter.
2. Visiting her daughter, ...
NOTES
d. With as soon as:
- replace as soon as with upon;
- change the verb to an –ing
form;
- on can also replace as soon
as.
e. With because:
- the link is not included in the movie, I don’t want to go again.
modifying phrase;
- having + past participle.
1. As soon as the children
heard about their mother’s
heart attack, they rushed to the
hospital.
2. Upon hearing about their
mother’s heart attack, ...
3. On hearing about their
mother’s heart attack, ...
1. Because I have seen the
2. Having seen the movie
before, I don’t want to go again.