Lindsay McMahon
"The English Adventurer"

Do you have a hard time putting together a professional exchange in English.

Do you want to ensure that you sound less repetitive and more direct and buttoned up?

Today we’re looking at adverb clauses which can help you tremendously with this, and ensure that you sound like a native.

This is a really important aspect of English that will help you tremendously, particularly with your business communication.

This next part in the grammar series is an important part of fine tuning your English speaking and overall communication.

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Using Adverb Clauses To Sound More Native

Do you have a hard time getting rid of stuff, or is it easy for you to throw things out? 

Aubrey threw it out there to ask you about reducing the things you own, because today we’re talking about reducing adverb clauses!

This is a grammar form that helps you use impressive complex sentences in a precise and effective way.

This helps you to sound more direct and also more native, because natives do this all the time!

This it the next part in our grammar series, as we move on from our previous episode 1380 Grammar Part 6: A Few Tips to Add a Little Polish to Job Interviews.

We focused on using “few” and “little” to shine during a job interview.

Now we’re going to move forward to the next part so that you know how to use adverb clauses and be more direct in the way that you communicate.

Why Is This So Important?

So why does this matter?

Can’t you communicate without this aspect of English?

This is an aspect of your communication in English that really helps you to fine tune things.

Even if what you have prepared for a presentation or meeting is fantastic and you have put in hours of work, it can still be unimpressive if you aren’t using something like this.

Without adverb clauses, the language you use can be low level and repetitive.

This is a simple way to sharpen your business communication in particular.

This is really important if you happen to work in an office setting.

If you practice using this in your communication, it will come off very naturally when you speak.

This will help you in your job with business communication, as well as in your regular conversations.

So while you may not realize the importance of this one aspect of your English, this can make a huge difference in multiple areas. 

Looking At The Different Uses

This is one of those aspects of English where you really want to be sure that you understand and use properly.

There are different uses and those are important to recognize and truly understand.

You will really come to understand this after you see them all in practice and in the various ways that they appear in conversation.

  • When while before after:  Whenever you say a sentence that has the same subject twice, eliminate one of them. This helps to condense the sentence and make it more direct. If you say, “After I present some numbers, I will explain the information” it sounds repetitive. It doesn’t sound impressive and it may not sound native. Instead you would reduce it to say “After presenting some numbers, I will explain the information.” Such a simple change but as you can see it’s so much sharper, and much higher level.
  • When and while (simultaneous actions): This applies to complex sentences with two clauses, and the subject needs to be the same in both. You would remove the subject of the adverb clause (the clause with the time word). You could then change the verb phrase into an “-ing” form. If you say something that is repetitive in nature, it would sound like this “While you are listening today, you need to take notes.” A better way to say this would be “While listening today, you need to take notes.” Use when/while interchangeably, and don’t worry about the difference. They’re ultimately the same here as two things are happening at the same time.
  • After, before (different times): These use the same rules, but for actions that happen at different times. An example of a sentence that gets wordy and repetitive would be”Before you attend today’s meeting, you should read the following documents.” A better way to say this would be “Before attending today’s meeting, you should read the following documents.”

Why can’t we do this if we have two different subjects?

The meaning changes, and therefore it changes the entire sentence structure.

Compare this sentence “While they analyze the charts, we will discuss next steps.” to “While analyzing the charts, we will discuss next steps. “

These rules and occurrences can help you to see exactly how this works and why this is such an important part of communication.

Looking At The Various Uses For Adverb Clauses

You can look at this in the various ways in which it will appear in your communication.

This can help you to understand the way in which adverb clauses work, and why they are so important.

Let’s take a look at each of these instances and then you can get a true appreciation for the way in which this works.

Presentations

The wrong way would be: “When our customers look online for groceries, our customers prioritize price over quality.”

The right way would be: “When looking online for groceries, our customers prioritize price over quality.”

The wrong way would be: “After I finish the presentation, I will take questions.”

The right way would be: “After finishing the presentation, I will take questions.”

Meetings

This is a place where you can expect to use adverb clauses quite often.

Knowing how to condense something and make it sound more buttoned up and professional makes a big difference in how you come across to your audience.

The wrong way would be: “While you discuss with your department, you need to prepare three points to share.”

The right way would be: “While discussing with your department, prepare three points to share.”

The wrong way would be “Before we finish, we should recognize Elizabeth for hitting her sales goal this quarter.”

The right way would be “Before finishing, we should recognize Elizabeth for hitting her sales goal this quarter.”

Business Emails

Another common place that you would expect to see this is in business emails.

This is because this is such a common way to communicate in a professional setting.

This is a really important part of this, and so you want to consider the way in which this flows in this professional type of communication.

The wrong way would be: “When you look at our third quarter sales, you should consider what could have been improved.”

The right way would be: “When looking at our third quarter sales, you should consider what could have been improved.”

 The wrong way would be: “After we meet on Friday, we will have a plan for next steps.”

The right way would be: “After meeting on Friday, we will have a plan for next steps.”

This is definitely something you don’t want to learn from a grammar book.

There are so many complicated rules in grammar textbooks about reducing adverbs, as well as different rules for different adverbs.

Instead,these examples should show you how to use adverb clauses to sharpen your communication skills in presentations, meetings and business emails. 

This is real life learning put to work, and it can help you to stand out from others!

Learning Activity To Help

This is a different approach rather than the traditional roleplay.

It could be a bit tricky to do a roleplay if you are focusing on presentations, and so we’ll look at this more as a learning activity.

Look at these examples and see how it works in a cohesive and smooth way.

When we merged with our parent company, we had to make some adjustments.

While I present today, I will provide a wealth of information.

After I provide everyone with some documents, I will discuss each one.

Before we finish today’s podcast, we should share a takeaway.

Takeaway

In business, you want to keep it simple. 

Don’t waste time studying about reducing adverbial phrases from a grammar textbook!

It’s so complex and complicated.

With this grammar series, we’re providing you with simple ways to refine your speech that can really take your English to another level.

This will help you to shine during your next business meeting or presentation!

If you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments section.

We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

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