Adverbial Clauses of Degree
Adverbial Clauses of Degree
Adverbial Clauses of Degree
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<strong>Adverbial</strong> <strong>Clauses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Degree</strong>Each <strong>of</strong> these examples has a dependent clause thatis an adverbial clause <strong>of</strong> degree:• She worked as hard as she could.• You always prepare better than I do.• The book was so bad that I read only ten pages.• That is such a good film that I want to see it again.Where is the adverbial clause <strong>of</strong> degree in each <strong>of</strong>these sentences? What is its function in thesentence? What is the subject-verb combination <strong>of</strong>each adverbial clause? What is the subordinator?
<strong>Adverbial</strong> <strong>Clauses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Degree</strong>Example Sentence:• She worked as hard as she could.The dependent clause in this example, “as…as shecould,” modifies the adverb “hard” and therebyadds degree to this sentence. So, this dependentclause is an adverbial clause <strong>of</strong> degree. Its subjectverbcombination is “she could,” and itssubordinator is “as…as.” In this case, the twowordsubordinator surrounds the adverb that theclause modifies.
<strong>Adverbial</strong> <strong>Clauses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Degree</strong>Example Sentence:• You always prepare better than I do.The dependent clause in this example, “than I do,”modifies the adverb “better,” thereby addingdegree to this sentence. So, this dependent clauseis an adverbial clause <strong>of</strong> degree. Its subject-verbcombination is “I do,” and its subordinator is“than.” In this case, the adverbial clause <strong>of</strong> degreefollows the adverb it modifies and concludes thesentence.
<strong>Adverbial</strong> <strong>Clauses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Degree</strong>Example Sentence:• The book was so bad that I read only ten pages.The dependent clause here, “so…that I read only tenpages,” modifies the adjective “bad” and therebyadds degree to this sentence. So, this is is anadverbial clause <strong>of</strong> degree. Its subject-verbcombination is “I read” and its subordinator is“so…that.” In this case, the two-wordsubordinator surrounds the adjective that theclause modifies.
<strong>Adverbial</strong> <strong>Clauses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Degree</strong>Example Sentence:• This is such a good film that I want to see it again.The dependent clause here, “such…that I want to seeit again,” modifies the adjective “good” andthereby adds degree to this sentence. So, this is anadverbial clause <strong>of</strong> degree. Its subject-verbcombination is “I want” and its subordinator is“such…that.” In this case, the two-wordsubordinator surrounds the adjective that theclause modifies and the words that accompanythat adjective.
<strong>Adverbial</strong> <strong>Clauses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Degree</strong>Example sentences:• She worked as hard as she could.• You always prepare better than I do.• The book was so bad that I read only ten pages.• That is such a good film that I want to see it again.In each <strong>of</strong> these examples, the dependent clausequalifies an adjective or an adverb and therebyadds degree to the sentence. So, these dependentclauses are all adverbial clauses <strong>of</strong> degree. In theseexamples we see three two-word subordinators.
<strong>Adverbial</strong> <strong>Clauses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Degree</strong><strong>Adverbial</strong> clauses <strong>of</strong> degree qualify adverbs oradjectives and thereby add degree to a sentence.Subordinators that may appear in adverbial clauses<strong>of</strong> degree include:• as…as, so…that, such…that, than.See the section on subordinators for more detailsabout each <strong>of</strong> these.<strong>Adverbial</strong> <strong>Clauses</strong>
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