Skill 7: USE ADVERB ‘TIME’ AND ‘CAUSE’ CONNECTORS CORRECTLY
Sentences with adverb clauses have two basic patterns in English. Study the clauses and connectors in the following sentences:
I will sign the check before you leave.
Before you leave, I will sign the check.
In each of these examples, there are two clauses: ‘you leave’ and ‘I will sign the check’, and the clause ‘you leave’ is an ‘adverb time clause’ because it is introduced with the connector “before”.
In the first example, the connector before comes in the middle of the sentence, and no comma (,) is used. In the second example, the connector before comes at the beginning of the sentence. In this pattern, when the connector comes at the beginning of the sentence, a comma (,) is required in the middle of the sentence.
Example:
_____ was late, I missed the appointment.
A. I
B. Because
C. The train
D. Since he
Answer:
In this example, you should recognize easily that there is a verb “was” that needs a subject. There is also another clause “I missed the appointment”. If you choose answer (A) or answer (C), you will have a subject for the verb was, but you will not have a connector to join the two clauses. Because you need a connector to join two clauses, answers (A) and (C) are incorrect. Answer (B) is incorrect because there is no subject for the verb was. Answer (D) is the best answer because there is a subject “he” for the verb “was” and there is a connector “since” to join the two clauses.
Video Pembahasan
