General English Level 2 GELEV2 Unit 01 Topic 03.doc  LANGUAGE FOCUS 05 Time clauses Find out how to use time clauses to say when something happened. Philip says: Philip: You know I used to have red hair too when I was a boy. Maria says Maria: I moved to the city when I was a teenager. Maria: I wanted to be a school teacher when I was younger. Philip and Maria use sentences with two main parts, or clauses. The first clause is the main clause. It tells us what - "I used to have red hair", "I moved to the city." The second clause is a subordinate clause. It gives us more information about the main clause. It tells us when- "when I was a boy", "when I was a teenager." We call these subordinate clauses time clauses. We can also put the when clause first. When we do this, we use a comma (,): When I was a boy, I used to have red hair. When I was younger, I wanted to be a schoolteacher. When I was a teenager, I moved to the city. Look Sydney was much smaller I wanted to be a school teacher I used to play football when I was a boy. when I was younger. when I was a teenager. When I was a boy, When I was younger, When I was a teenager, Sydney was much smaller. I wanted to be a schoolteacher. I used to play football. Examples Listen to the examples 1. My father worked in a bank when we lived in China. 2. I broke my arm when I was ten years old. 3. I bought a car when I got my first job. 4. When I was in primary school, I met John. 5. When I was seven, my father gave me a dog. 6. When I was a baby, my grandmother looked after me. 30 QUESTLANGUAGE