Adverbial clauses time clauses

Time Clauses are introduced by time conjunctions or expressions such as:

after

as

as soon as

before

by the time

hardly … when

no sooner … than

scarcely … when

now that

once

(ever) since

the minute (that)

the moment (that)

till / until

when

whenever

while

the first/last/next time

e.g. After it happened, I had several more extensive conversations with his family.

e.g. As we were sitting down to dinner, the phone rang.

e.g. If you get stung by a sea urchin, get yourself to a hospital as soon as you can.

e.g. The game was virtually over before they realised what was happening.

e.g.  Freezing fruit at home tends to result in jam by the time you have defrosted it.

e.g. I had hardly / scarcely opened the door when the telephone rang.

e.g. She had no sooner said it than he asked her another question.

e.g. Now that she has a daughter, Gellar, 34, wanted a job that required less travel.

e.g. Once Wing discovered model airplanes, building them became a lifelong obsession.

e.g. He has been talking to his children about money since they were 4 or 5, he says.

e.g. I felt I belonged there the minute / the moment I stepped onto UCLA's beautiful North Campus.

e.g. We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it.

e.g. Whenever they appeared in his room to pick him up, they were greeted cheerfully.

e.g. Let some other country sort out the world's problems while we take a back seat. 

e.g. The next time you're about to take the elevator, why not head for the stairwell?

Clauses of time follow the rule of the sequence of tenses; when the main verb of the sentence is a present or future tense, the verb in the subordinate clause must be a present or future tense too, and when the verb of a sentence is a past tense, the verb in the subordinate clause must be a past tense too.

e.g. I'll watch TV after I have finished doing my homework.

e.g. She left before he came.

Never use a future form in a time clause, use a present tense instead.

e.g. I'll do the washing up when / after they leave.

Present and past perfect tenses in time clauses can emphasise the idea of completion.

e.g. You're not going home until you've finished that report.

e.g. I waited until the rain had stopped.

Notes

1. when (time conjunction) + present tense  When I find it, I'll tell you.

when (question word) + will / would  I don't know when I will find it.

2. while =/= during

during + noun (We learnt some interesting facts during the lecture)

while + clause (We learnt some interesting facts while we were listening to the lecture)

3. not… until / till

e.g. I will not have finished my word until / till Thursday.

e.g. It was not until 2007 that they contacted the National Missing Persons Helpline.

4. by + noun (= before, no later than)  You must finish this report by 8 am tomorrow

by + clause (= before, no later than)  He had watered the plants by the time she got back

until = up to the time when  Can you wait until I return?

When the main clause is negative, until is normally used:

e.g. We didn't leave until Mary arrived. (not: by the time Mary arrived)