on writing:
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“'It’s about verbs not nouns.' Nouns are things and verbs are experiences. If you devote yourself to the verbs, the nouns will surely follow...”
Introduction
We are going to start learning about a kind of complex sentence that is made with adverbial clauses. In this activity, I will explain to you about adverbial clauses and then give you some examples of sentences that have them. Adverbial clauses start with a "when," "where," "how," "why," "since," "even though," or "while" and modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbial clauses add information to answer questions about how, when, where, why, or to what extent an action in the main clause takes place.
For example, in the sentence, "The culprit picks the lock," we might want to inform our reader more about the action. We could do this with an adverb like "stealthily"..."The culprit picks the lock stealthily"; we could also use a relative clause, like "when the guard is not watching"..."The culprit picks the lock when the guard is not watching." Maybe there is a condition to be met for the action to take place, which would be marked by "if" or "as long as"..."If no one is around, the culprit picks the lock." Or: "As long as she has her bobby pin, the culprit picks the lock."
Identifying Parts of a Sentence
Now I will show you some sentences with adverbial clauses in them. Listen as I read each one, then repeat it after me. Then we will find the verbs in this sentence. When there is more than one verb in a sentence, we know it is complex. Then you will help me find the subordinating conjunctions and underline the whole relative clause. Wel''s be sure to think about what each sentence means.
Sample (verbs highlighted, adverbial clauses underlined, main clause in italics, subordinating conjunction in bold)
"Even though it was the middle of the night, a truck was backing up to pick up a blue one" (p.85)
Deconstruction
I'm going to let you take a crack at some complex sentences to break them down into their separate parts: the main clause and the adverbial clause below. Remember to look for subordinating conjunctions. Adverbial clauses are introduced by subordinating conjunctions (e.g., because, although, when, while, if, since, etc.).
Comprehension
In this next sentence deconstruction, we'll focus on understanding while breaking down complex sentences from James Ponti's Framed!:
"Margaret smiled and waved even though the tinted window made it impossible for the woman to see her" (p.93)
The first thing you might notice is Margaret has two actions, "smiled and waved." This is an example of a compound predicate. Here, both smiled and waved are important because they are part of the main clause.
Everything that appears in the adverbial clause provides additional context, but we can leave that out for now. We can understand this complex sentence if we simplify it to the most essential, "Margaret smiled and waved."
"Margaret smiled and waved even though the tinted window made it impossible for the woman to see her" (p.93)
"A very dedicated team of FBI agents spent the next thirty minutes digging through the Dumpsters and bags of trash, while detectives questioned the garbage crew to see if they might be involved." (p.86)
The goal is to understand the sentence's core meaning. After identifying the crucial actions, the first step to comprehension is finding the ones that are not as important to meaning. For example, "a very dedicated team of FBI agents," gives us a bit of additional information but it isn't essential to the sentence.
Let's focus on the action of sentence or devote ourselves to the verbs, as Mr. Ponti says. Now, let's address the secondary action, which is "detectives questioned the garbage crew to see if they might be involved." Again, this adds more details to the sentence but isn't crucial to the core idea.
So that leaves us with "that "FBI agents spent the next thirty minutes digging through the Dumpsters and bags of trash." This could be simplified to "FBI agents searched the trash."
"A very dedicated team of FBI agents spent the next thirty minutes digging through the Dumpsters and bags of trash, while detectives questioned the garbage crew to see if they might be involved." (p.86)
"It turns out that a lot of the city’s garbage is collected at night, when the tourists and government officials are gone." (p.85)
Deconstructing sentences helps us understand the structure and main idea of complex sentences It also helps us write by seeing how sentences are built. The first thing you'll see in this sentence is the introductory phrase: "It turns out..." The introductory phrase does just that, it's introducing us to the main idea "a lot of the city's garbage is collected at night."
The next thing you'll notice is that when subordinating conjunction, and so we know it and everything that follows is the adverbial phrase or clause. It gives us extra context but isn't essential. The main idea of the sentence could be simplified even further to " the city's garbage is collected at night." Do you see how the sentence's core meaning remains intact even after we eliminate the extra context?
"It turns out that a lot of the city’s garbage is collected at night, when the tourists and government officials are gone." (p.85)
Relative clauses
This next one has a relative clause, which starts with the relative pronoun who, and what follows is a relative clause. i've marked that for you in purple as it is not a main clause or an adverbial clause (but it is a dependent clause). I've also given you a hint with one adverbial clause but there is anoter.
"For example, when we rode the Metro we’d play a game where we’d try to predict who was getting off at which stop based only on what they were carrying." (p. 37)
main clause
adverbial clause based only on what they were carrying
Practice
Ready to try some deconstruction your own? Remember, first find the verbs. Then separate the main clause from the adverbial phrase that modifies. Finally, simplify the main clause. This one has a relative pronoun "who" and everything
"...it helped me figure out new things whenever my family moved." (p. 47)
main clause
adverbial clause
"She wants to be comfortable and she doesn’t want to scuff up her nice shoes, so she keeps those in her office and wears the sneakers whenever she leaves." (p. 37)
main clause
adverbial clause
"The captain went to say something else, but then he turned and looked at me as though it was the first time he’d noticed I was there." (p. 144)
main clause
adverbial clause
"According to our counterparts at Interpol, Pavel Novak has not been seen since he flew from Washington to Prague the night of the burglary" (p. 186)
" It’s also a good way to describe the scope of the grounding my parents gave me after Agent Rivers drove us home and told them what happened." (p. 266)
main clause
adverbial clause
" Since the bidding records he showed us were confidential, he knew we’d never be able to compare them to the originals." (p. 290)
main clause
adverbial clause
Spoiler alert:
"Two days later Pavel Novak was greeted at Dulles International Airport, where he surrendered to authorities and began talking in exchange for a reduced sentence." (p. 291)
main clause
adverbial clause
Case History: Demosthenes
Demosthenes is a diligent middle school student in the 7th grade who is facing challenges with comprehending and constructing complex sentences using adverbial clauses. Demosthenes is a diligent student who enjoys reading but often finds it difficult to grasp the nuances of complex sentences and the use of adverbial clauses in text. Demosthenes' baseline assessment revealed that while he can comprehend basic sentences and short texts. He often struggles when sentences become more complex, especially those containing adverbial clauses. Improvement in his ability to identify main ideas is crucial to support Demosthenes' continued academic success.
Standard: California Common Core L.7.1a
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English Grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
a. Explain the function of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences.
b. Choose among simple compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal differing relationships among ideas.
c. Place phrases and clauses within a sentence, recognizing and correctly misplaced and dangling modifiers.*
*Footnote: Beginning in grade 3, skills and understandings that are particularly likely to require continued attention in higher grades as they are applied to increasingly sophisticated writing and speaking are marked with an astersk (*).
IEP Goal:
By 5/12/2024, Demosthenes will constuct complex sentences with adverbial clauses introduced by subordinating conjunctions, , improving from 0% of opportunities independently to 80% of opportunities, as measured by a speech-language pathologist.''
Objectives:
By 12/12/2023, when presented with complex sentences introduced by subordinating conjunctions, Demosthenes will independently identify adverbial and main clauses, improving from 0% of opportunities independently to 80% of opportunities, as measured by a speech-language pathologist.
By 5/12/2024, Demosthenes will independently answer comprehension questions by generating a complex written sentence which includes adverbial clauses introduced by subordinating conjunctions, improving from 0% of opportunities independently to 80% of opportunities, as measured by a speech-language pathologist.
Rationale: understanding complex structures >> understanding of complex sentences
The activity described in the lesson plan will benefit Demosthenes in many avenues. It introduces the concept of adverbial clauses, which is essential for understanding complex sentence structures. Demosthenes will learn how adverbial clauses modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs and provide additional information about the action in the main clause. This foundational knowledge will assist Demosthenes in comprehending more intricate sentences in his reading materials.
The identification and deconstruction of sentences with adverbial clauses will help Demosthenes practice breaking down complex sentence structures into their individual components. This process will enhance his ability to recognize subordinating conjunctions and understand the relationship between the main clause and the adverbial clause, thus improving her comprehension of more complex texts.
By emphasizing the application of adverbial clauses in writing, the activity will support Demosthenes in developing his writing skills. Demosthenes will learn how to construct sentences that incorporate adverbial clauses to convey additional information or describe actions more precisely. This skill is important for improving the coherence and complexity of his writing, which will contribute to improved text comprehension.
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