Definition:
A dependent clause used as an adverb within a sentence to indicate time, place, condition, contrast, concession, reason, purpose, or result. It begins with a subordinating conjunction (such as if, when, because, although) and includes a subject and a predicate. See also:
Examples:
- "All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why."
(James Thurber) - Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
(Helen Keller) - "I drank some boiling water because I wanted to whistle."
(Mitch Hedberg) - "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
(Sinclair Lewis, 1935) - "When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best."
(Herbie Hancock) - "And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be."
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney, "Let It Be") - "If I ever opened a trampoline store, I don't think I'd call it Trampo-Land, because you might think it was a store for tramps, which is not the impression we are trying to convey with our store."
(Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts, 1992) - "According to legend, when Lady Godiva pleaded with her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to cancel a burdensome tax he had levied against his subjects, he agreed to do so only if she rode naked through the city."
(Jim Hargan, "The City of Lady Godiva," British Heritage, January 2001) - "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
(Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture, 2008)
Also Known As: adverbial clause
