Adverb clauses bring variety of information to sentences – time, place, manner, condition, concession, purpose, and more. Information on contrast, provided by adverb clause of contrast, is the topic of this post.
Learn more: This post covers just one adverb clause. Learn other types of adverb clause.
What is adverb clause of contrast?
Adverb clauses of contrast show contrast with the matrix clause. (Matrix clause is what’s left after removing subordinate clause. In the sentence While she is organized, her brother is messy, for example, her brother is messy is matrix clause.)
They usually come before the matrix clause, and when they come after, a comma usually separates the two clauses. They’re introduced mainly by subordinating conjunctions while, whereas, and whilst (mainly in British English), which are interchangeable.
Note: Adverb clause of contrast is not the same as adverb clause of concession, though many resources on the internet use them interchangeably.
Examples:
While some European cities suffered from excessive heat, some had mild weather.
[The adverb clause clearly shows contrast with the matrix clause. The two clauses don’t have any logical relationship; they simply present contrasting things.]
While she is organized, her brother is messy.
I was slogging, while others were off on the weekend.
A fool expresses his annoyance to an insult immediately, whereas a wise person ignores the insult.
In the picture, color blue represents lower neural activity, whereas red represents higher.
Whereas African lions are found in the wild in more than twenty-five countries in Africa, Asiatic lions are confined to just one country, India.
Whilst she loves city life, he prefers countryside.
Whilst he finished the report, she worked on the presentation.
So far, we’ve looked at adverb clauses expressing predominantly one meaning: contrast. But adverb clauses are known for expressing multiple meanings simultaneously. Next up is such mix of meanings, one of which is contrast.
Mixed signals: An adverb clause may convey multiple meanings simultaneously
Adverb clauses introduced by subordinating conjunction where sometimes convey meaning of place and meaning of contrast, at the same time. (Note that where doesn’t fall in the list of subordinating conjunctions covered earlier in the post.)
Where the team lost hope, their coach remained optimistic and encouraging.
[Meaning of place: The adverb clause shows the place/point/position where the team lost hope. Meaning of contrast: The adverb clause clearly shows contrast with the matrix clause (lost hope vs. remained optimistic).]
Where the traditional approach failed, the innovative technique achieved remarkable success.
Though the above clauses may be called adverb clause of place or adverb clause of contrast, grammatically it’s both clauses rolled into one.
