67.While the band played “Moonlight Serenade,”Buggsy whispered sweet
nothings in Rita’s ear.- Rita was afraid to movebecause she had heard of Buggsy’s reputation.
Subordinate Clauses Are Adverbials. Subordinate clauses always
function as adverbial modifiers, and the information they provide usually is re-
lated to conditionality, causality/reason, time, concession, or contrast. Because
subordinate clauses are adverbials, they tend to supply information to a verb
phrase, but they also can supply information to an entire clause, as in sentences
64 and 67. When they do, we say that they aresentence-levelmodifiers.
APPLYING KEY IDEASDirections: This activity is designed to help you assess how well you’ve mas-
tered the information in the previous section related to form and function. Iden-
tify the form of each word in the sentences that follow. Next, use parentheses to
mark the major constituents and then identify their function.
EXAMPLE: (The surfers) (arrived at the beach just after sunrise).
- Fritz saw the ocean from his apartment in Venice Beach.
- On the boardwalk, the skaters moved in unnatural rhythms.
- Macarena made a reservation at China Club for dinner.
- Fred thought about the hot salsa band and the exotic food.
- Fred polished his shoes until he could see himself in them.
- Macarena put on her red dress because it was Fred’s favorite.
- She also put on her pearl choker, even though it was a gift from Fritz.
- Slowly, Macarena brushed her long hair as she looked in the mirror.
- Three conga drummers appeared on the boardwalk, and they thumped the
skins with taped fingers.
10.Fritz put down his racing form because the drumming was really loud.
Usage NoteFunction words have some semantic content, and the semantic content of
subordinating conjunctions is related to the type of information they supply to
the constructions they modify. For example, in sentence 64—Since he came
home, Fred hasn’t turned off the TV once—the subordinate clause supplies in-
formation of time to the independent clause. In sentence 68—Rita was afraid to
TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR 87
-article -noun-verb-prep-art-noun-adverbial-prep -noun