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rain.
Here the subordinate clause as he lay atop of the luggage, with his face towards the rain, does not express
the cause, but gives some grounds which serve to prove the truthfulness of the supposition expressed in the
main clause.
I must have been very weak at the time; because I know, after the first half hour or so, I seemed to take
no interest whatever in my food.
In this sentence the first clause is separated by a semicolon, which is not typical of subordination and is a
mark of loose connection.
In colloquial English a clause of cause may be joined rather loosely to a sentence which cannot be its main
clause: Are you going to the post-office? - Because I have some letters to post. (I ask you this because I have
some letters to post.)
The complex sentence with an adverbial clause of result (consequence)
§ 175. An adverbial clause of result denotes some consequence or result of the action expressed in the
main clause. It may be introduced by the conjunction so that, or simply that.
Light fell on her there, so that Soames could see her face, eyes, hair, strangely as he remembered them,
strangely beautiful.
Clauses with the correlatives so and such (so... that, such... that) may express manner with a shade of
resultative meaning and are treated as such. However one should bear in mind that the line of demarcation
between cases of JO... that and so that is rather difficult to draw when the two words follow one another.
The complex sentence with mutually subordinated clauses
§ 176. In complex sentences of this type it is impossible to differentiate which of the clauses is the main one
and which is subordinate. We shall consider two patterns of such sentences.
§ 177. Clauses of proportionate agreement (or comparison). They express a
proportional relationship - proportionality or equivalence; the more intensive is the action or quality
described in one clause, the more intensive becomes the other, described in the following clause. Although
sentences containing such clauses are undoubtedly complex, it is nevertheless impossible to state which of the
clauses is the main one and which is subordinate, since they are of the same pattern -two twin clauses, looking
like one another.
Clauses of proportionate agreement are joined by the conjunction as (correlated with the adverb of degree so
in the other clause); or by means of the correlative adverbs so... so in both clauses. Proportionate agreement
between the clauses may also be expressed by the correlative particles the... the, followed by the comparative
degree of adverbs (or adjectives).
As time went on, so their hopes began to wane.
The more he reflected on the idea, the more he liked it.
The further I penetrated into London, the profounder grew the stillness.
Proportionate agreement occurs in such aphoristic sentences as the more the better, the sooner the better,
which may refer to various situations.
§ 178. The second pattern of mutually subordinated clauses expresses temporal relations - a quick
succession of actions or events, often overlapping with one another for a short period of time. These
clauses form an indivisible whole owing to correlative elements and sometimes partial inversion in the first
clause. The order in which the elements follow one another is fixed. As partial inversion is possible when the