Time (Grammar)

Time

- We can use adverbials and adverbial clauses to show time.
Adverbials
Adverbials are a common way of indicating when something happened. They may be:

    ■ adverbs:
‘How are you feeling?’ asked Michael afterwards.
Common time adverbs are:
afterwards
already
daily
earlier
ever
finally
first
frequently
hourly
immediately
last
later
monthly
never
next
now
often
presently
seldom
shortly
sometimes
soon
still
suddenly
then
today
tomorrow
usually
weekly
yearly
yesterday
yet
    ■ adverbial phrases: these are phrases built up on an adverb headword. For example:
shortly afterwards  almost daily  much earlier
Much later I asked, ‘Do you still miss Simon a lot?’
    ■ prepositional phrases:
D. Long will report back after the Tokyo meeting.
Prepositional phrases used as time adverbials often begin with:
after
at
before
by
during
for
from
in
on
since
throughout
to
until
Adverbial clauses
Adverbial clauses of time are introduced by subordinating conjunctions including:
after
as
before
since
until
when
while
They can be used to describe events that happen:
    ■ before the event in the main clause:
When they heard the news they issued statements.
    ■ at the same time as the event in the main clause:
While this was being done, Byrne and Phillips went off on a recce down to the road.
    ■ after the event in the main clause:
It came out of the blue before he knew he was famous.