Temporal Clause - Before, After, When, While

Syntax

A Temporal Clause is usually composed of two parts: The independent clause and the dependent clause, which are linked by one of these connectors: Before, after, when, while. These connectors refer to a specific point of time.

The Temporal Clause can be expressed through two kinds of structures that differ in the order of words but not in meaning:

Clause 1 (Subject+verb) + connector + clause 2 (Subject + verb);
Connector + clause 1 (Subject + verb) + comma (,) + clause 2 (Subject + verb).

Connectors

Before
After
When
While

Before

We should leave before it starts raining.
Before I go to work, I drink a coffee.

After

The boss was more tolerant with him after he learnt about his problems.
After we got to know her, we realised she was selfish.

When

I was very polite when I met her.
When they were sleeping, the light was on.

While

We called the police while you and your neighbour were fighting.
While you were reading, they had some coffee.

We use Temporal Clauses to form more complex sentences and locate an event in a specific moment or period. The Temporal Clause gets sense thanks to the following connectors:

Before (previous event);
After (subsequent event);
When (in a specific moment);
While (at the same time with another event).

Temporal Clauses are used to form more complex sentences and locate an event in a specific moment or period. These clauses are usually composed of two parts: the independent clause and the dependent clause, which are linked by a connector.

These connectors are: Before, after, when and while.

For example:
— “I’ll have a shower before dinner.” = “The shower” is the first event to take place and “the dinner” the second.
— “I’ll have a shower after dinner.” = “The dinner” is the first event to take place and “the shower” the second.
— “I’ll have a shower when the water gets warmer.” = “The shower” will be had in the moment in which “the water gets warmer“.
— “I’ll have a shower while you cook dinner.” = The two events happen at the same time.

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