The Communicative Grammar of English Workbook - Edward Woods, Rudy Coppieters 2002

7.4. Time-when 2
Unit seven. Adverbs, adverbials and prepositions

Sections 156-160

Time relationships can be indicated by a variety of prepositions, adverbs and conjunctions:

• before/after the war; by Friday; before(hand)/afterwards; before/after/when/as it happened

• already; still; yet; any more.

Time measurement expressions include phrases such as:

• three years ago; (in) three years from now; in three years; in three years’ time.

Time-when adverbs like again, now, today, etc. identify a point or period of time directly, while adverbs like afterwards, later, next, etc. do so indirectly.

Time-when clauses are introduced by conjunctions like when, after, as, before, etc.

Task one **

Complete the following sentences by inserting one or two of the time-when adverbials listed below. In most cases a pair of (correlating) adverbials are to be added.

1. I decided to talk to my wife and see my solicitor.

2. Over 170 nations had signed the non-proliferation treaty.

3. The European Union may well consist of about twenty-five member states.

4. George Bush Sr. was President of the United States.

5. The missing girl left home and has not been seen.

6. The Boeing 747 took off from Dubai Airport, so it should have landed in Delhi.

7. The situation in Eastern Europe began to change very fast.

8. I don’t know whether a solution has been found.

9. Hostilities had resumed, but fortunately things quietened down.

10. We were to learn that the suspect had been convicted of drugs trafficking.

Task two **

Combine the following pairs of sentences, turning the second sentence into an adverbial clause and using each of the conjunctions listed below just once. The sentence parts in square brackets are NOT to be included.

after as as soon as before now that once since until when while

Example: I went to see several specialists [last month].

I decided to have a pacemaker implanted [early this week].

→ I went to see several specialists before I decided to have a pacemaker implanted.

1. I met Sheila [three years ago].

I was 17 years old [then].

2. The tourists picnicked in the city’s main park [at noon].

They visited a local museum [at 2 p.m.].

3. Two wings of the castle were destroyed by fire [early this morning].

It was struck by lightning [around midnight].

4. I will phone you [soon].

I [have to] finish this repair work [first].

5. The car crash happened [on Sunday evening].

It was raining heavily [all evening].

6. We can all heave a sigh of relief [now].

The worst of the storm is over [now].

7. Steering a canoe is relatively easy.

You [should] get the hang of it [first].

8. The patient’s condition seemed to stabilize [gradually].

Time passed [gradually].

9. I do not want to fly to Canada [in the next few weeks].

The international situation [should] have improved [first].

10. There has only been one single burglary [lately].

A security camera was installed [some time ago].