Question

Read the sentence.

Yesterday, when they arrived at the beach, the students who had never seen the ocean before were surprised by the size of the foaming waves that rolled gracefully toward the shore.

Which part of the sentence is an adverbial dependent clause?

a)when they arrived at the beach
b)who had never seen the ocean before
c)by the size of the foaming waves
d)that rolled gracefully toward the shore

Answer 1

The question is asking us to choose the adverbial dependent clause in the following text:" Yesterday, when they arrived at the beach, the students who had never seen the ocean before were surprised by the size of the foaming waves that rolled gracefully toward the shore. adverbial clauses describe actions, not objects. options: a)when they arrived at the beach - this describes when the event happened, so describes how/when an action happened - a correct answer! b)who had never seen the ocean before - this describes the students, so not an action c)by the size of the foaming waves - this is a prepositional phrase, and not a dependent clause d)that rolled gracefully toward the shore - this is describing the waves

Answer 2

The correct answer is A, WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT THE BEACH.

In English language, an adverb is one of the part of speech. An adverb is a part of speech that talk more or qualifies a verb. It can also be used to qualify an adjective, another adverb or a clause. An adverbial dependent clause refers to an adverbial clause that can not stand alone. In the question given above, the statement given in option A is an adverbial clause, which quality the verb 'arrived'.