Page 263 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES 249
The future tense is never used in time and condition clauses marked by such subordinate conjunctions as after, as (soon as), before, when, while, until, and if In time and condition clauses, perfect tenses are also singularly rare. As discussed in chapter 7, in general the uses of the future and perfect tenses are rare in academic writing.
Position and Punctuation of Adverbial Clauses
As mentioned earlier, complex sentences with adverbial clauses in effect represent two conjoined simple sentences, which can be moved around freely until they are conjoined:
1. In the past, colleges and universities were primarily the domain of students in their late teens and early twenties.
2. Now increasing numbers of older students are returning to school.
These two sentences can be combined in various ways depending on the writer's ideas and desired context: The main point of a sentence is placed in the main (independent clause) and secondary information in the adverb clause. The two sentences can be sequenced in a way that best fits the con- text as well:
3. Although in thepast, colleges and universities wereprimarily the domain of students in their late teens and early twenties, now increasing numbers of older students arereturning toschool, [the adverb clause precedes the main clause]
4. Now increasing numbers of older students are returning to school, al- though in the past, colleges and universities were primarily the domain of students in their late teens and early twenties, [the same basic mean- ing can be conveyed when the adverb clause follows the main clause]
5. Although now increasing numbers of older students are returning to school, in the past, colleges and universities were primarily the domain of students in their late teens and early twenties, [the main and background infor- mation is switched, and the meaning of sentence (5) is different from that in either (3) or (4)]
6. In the past, colleges and universities were primarily the domain of students in their late teens and early twenties, although now the increasing number of older students are returning to school, . [the basic meaning of sen- tence (6) is the same as that in (5),and both (5) and (6) are different from (3) and (4)]
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