How to use 'time clauses' in English. For more English tutorials, please visit: https://www.thelecturette.com

1. Time Clauses

2. Time Clauses
You use time clauses to say when something
happens. The verb in the time clause can be
in the present or the past tense.
I look after the children while she goes to
London.
I haven’t given him a thing to eat since he
arrived.

3. Time Clauses
WARNING: You never use the future tense in
a time clause. You use one of the present
tenses instead.
Let me stay here till Jane comes to bed.
I’ll do it when I’ve finished writing this letter.

4. Time Clauses
When you want to say that two events
happen at the same time, you use a time
clause with ‘as’, ‘when’, or ‘while’.
We arrived as they were leaving.

5. Time Clauses
When you want to say that two events
happen at the same time, you use a time
clause with ‘as’, ‘when’, or ‘while’.
We arrived as they were leaving.

6. Time Clauses
Sometimes the two events happen together
for a period of time.
She wept bitterly as she told her story.

7. Time Clauses
Sometimes one event interrupts another
event.
He was having his dinner when the telephone
rang.
John will arrive while we are watching the
film.
Note: You often use a continuous tense for
the interrupted event.

8. Time Clauses
When you want to say that one event
happens before another event, you use a time
clause with ‘after’, ‘as soon as’, ‘before’, or
‘when’.
As soon as we get tickets, we’ll send them to
you.
Can I see you before you go, Helen?

9. Time Clauses
Note: You use the past perfect to indicate an
event that happened before another event in
the past.
When she had finished reading, she looked
up.

10. Time Clauses
When you want to mention a situation which
started in the past and continued until a later
time, you use a time clause with ‘since’ or
‘ever since’.
You use a past simple or a past perfect in the
time clause.
He hadn’t cried since he was a boy of ten.
I’d wanted to come ever since I was a child.

11. Time Clauses
If the situation started in the past and still
continues now, you use a past simple in the
time clause, and a present perfect in the main
clause.
I’ve been in politics since I was at university.
Ever since you arrived you’ve been causing
trouble.

12. Time Clauses
Note: After impersonal ‘it’ and a time
expression, if the main clause is in the
present tense, you use ‘since’ with a past
simple.
It is two weeks now since I wrote you.

13. Time Clauses
If the main clause is in the past tense, you
use ‘since’ with a past perfect.
I was nearly seven years old since I had seen
Toby.

14. Time Clauses
When you want to talk about when a situation
ends, you use a time clause with ‘till’ or ‘until’
and a present or past tense.
We’ll support them till they find work.
I stayed there talking to them until I saw Sam.
She waited until he had gone.

15. Time Clauses
When you want to say that something
happens before or at a particular time, you
use a time clause with ‘by the time’ or ‘by
which time’.
By the time I went to bed, I was exhausted.
He came back later, by which time they had
gone.

16. Time Clauses
In written or formal English, if the subject of
the main clause and the time clause are the
same, you sometimes omit the subject in the
time clause and use a participle as the verb.
I read the book before going to see the film.
The car was stolen while parked in a London
street.

17. Questions?
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