Cambridge Preterm Latin language pack

conspectus of Ancient Greek and Latin subordinate clauses
Subordinate or dependent clauses are traditionally (Smyth §2189 and Kennedy §410) classified in
three ways:
1. substantival clauses behave like nouns
2. adverbial clauses disclose information that is adverbial (i.e. predicate) to the action at hand
3. adjectival clauses disclose information that is adjectival (i.e. attributive) to the agent or item at
hand
This classification is based on an analogy: clauses are being compared to words. Subordinate clauses are
taken to modify the main clause like nouns, adverbs, and adjectives:
1a. Jim annoys me.
1b. The fact that Jim does that annoys me.
1c. I can't stand Jim.
1d. I can't stand the fact that Jim does that.
2a. Jim ran quickly.
2b. Jim ran when he realized he was late.
2c. Jim ran because he realized he was late.
2d. Jim ran although he didn't need to.
3a. I've made an unforgivable mistake.
3b. I've made a mistake which is unforgivable.
In each of these examples, a clause underlined in a (b), (c) or (d) sentence plays the same role as the
word underlined in the (a) sentence. Each kind of clause has further subclasses:
1. substantival clauses
a. relative clauses (best treated as adjectival—see below)
b. indirect speech
c. indirect question
d. indirect command
2. adverbial clauses
a. purpose (a.k.a. "final") clauses
b. object clauses (really belong under substantives but resemble purpose clauses very closely)
—with verbs of effort
—with verbs of fear
c. causal clauses
d. result (a.k.a. "consecutive") clauses
e. proviso clauses
f. conditional clauses
g. concessive clauses
h. temporal clauses
i. comparison
3. adjectival clauses: relative clauses
a. definite
b. indefinite
[c. "conditional" relative clauses in Gk]