Haiku: Doing more with less - adverbial phrases

Adverbial phrases

Hi there! Welcome to another great lesson from New English Academy. I’m your host, Giles Parker and today we’re going to focus on how to be really efficient when you’re speaking, simply by shortening adverb clauses down to adverbial phrases. This lesson is aimed at advanced level students but don’t worry if you don’t think you’re advanced, have a go and see what you can pick up from it. The comprehension text is titled ‘Haiku: Doing more with less.’ First I’m going to talk about the grammar point. Then we’ll listen to the grammar in context in the comprehension text. Don’t forget, you can download the transcript and get access to the great online interactive games and tests for this lesson at our website, New English Academy.com.

I guess the main point of all communication is for us to help the other guy to understand us. To help people understand us, it is a good idea to be really efficient. That means we should try to use fewer words but still show our meaning. One way of doing this is by shortening clauses to make shorter phrases that still say what we want to say, but with fewer words. Brilliant! And that, by the way, is also why our comprehension topic is Haiku poetry, because Haiku uses very few words to get a huge image across to the other guy. But more on Haiku in a bit.

First, let me start by going over some basic grammar to refresh your memory. You know how adverbs give more information about the verb, like information about the time it happened, or the place it happened, or the way it happened? And you know how a clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb? Â We can see the when, where, how and why in a clause because adverb clauses use conjunctions, like after, or before, or since, or as, etc.

Well, a phrase has the same meaning and power as a clause BUT is shorter because there isn’t an explicit subject or a proper verb. Instead a phrase has an implicit subject and a verb in the present or past participle form, that is, a verb ending in ‘ing’.

An example of an adverb clause is:

· When you are eating, it is polite to keep your mouth closed.

Did you hear the adverb clause? It is “When you are eating…” This one talks about time. Now, let’s shorten it to make an adverb phrase:

· When eating, it is polite to keep your mouth closed.

There is no explicit subject now, so it becomes a phrase instead of a clause. Also did you hear how we took out the be verb too? That is another way to shorten clauses to phrases – drop the be verb if it is part of the main verb in the clause.

OK, now how about this pair?

· After he heard the forecast, he picked up his umbrella.

· After hearing the forecast he picked up his umbrella.

The adverb clause “After he heard the forecast…” is shortened to “After hearing the forecast…” What happened to the verb? It got changed from past simple to a present participle. So “After he heard” becomes “After hearing”.  To make phrases, change the verb into a participle.

How about making negatives? Easy! Just put not or never before the participle. So for example:

· After he hadn’t written to his girlfriend for several months he suddenly phoned her.

Which becomes:

· After not writing to his girlfriend for several months, he suddenly phoned her.

So, generally, using fewer words to get your meaning across is what we want to aim for. But we can go even further and be really, really efficient by shortening adverb clauses all the way down to adverbial phrases. They have the same meaning and power but much fewer words. For example a sentence with an adverb clause;

· While I was browsing in a bookshop, I met an old friend.

Becomes

· Browsing in a bookshop, I met an old friend.

Or another example;

· When she saw me, she smiled.

Becomes

· Seeing me, she smiled.

Isn’t that brilliant? The same meaning, the same message, but much fewer words – that makes communication more efficient.

What about the be verb? There are always problems with the be verb. OK, if an adverb clause has a form of the be verb in it, just change it to being. So, for example:

· Because they were such good friends they hugged each other.

Becomes:

· Being such old friends, they hugged each other.

For negatives, just put not or never in front of the participle being.

OK, still with me? We’re on the home stretch now. What about for passive constructions? Can we reduce adverb clauses to make really efficient adverbial phrases in passive constructions? Yep, you bet we can! Just drop the conjunction, the subject and all the auxiliaries. So, for example:

· Because it was built to look like a café, the bookshop attracted a variety of customers.

Becomes:

· Built to look like a café, the bookshop attracted a variety of customers.

One set of conjunctions, those that talk about the reason something happens, for example, because, as and since get dropped like other conjunctions to give the same meaning. AND… when the clause has one of these conjunctions and a form of the be verb then the be verb gets changed to the participle, being in the adverbial phrase. This makes life so much less complicated, when you get the hang of of it. So, for example, a normal, boring sentence with an adverb clause says:

· Because she was happy to see me, she ran across the shop.

But drop the conjunction and the subject, change the be verb to being and we get:

· Being happy to see me, she ran across the shop.

So, to summarize, the rules for being really efficient in your communication by changing adverb clauses and shortening them to adverbial phrases are:

1. Make sure the original clauses both have the same subject.

2. Drop the subject pronoun in the adverb clause to make an adverb phrase.

3. Change the verb in the adverb clause into a present participle or past participle in the adverb phrase

4. Keep the conjunction if you really want to focus on time, manner or place.

5. But, drop the conjunction to make the adverb phrase even shorter, into a really efficient adverbial phrase.

OK, thanks for hanging in there – I know this was a tough one. But, it is all about how we can use grammar to help people understand us. And shortening adverb clauses down to adverbial phrases is one really useful way to use fewer words to say the same thing. That is why our topic is a type of Japanese poetry called haiku, which gets a huge effect but with very few words. Maybe I should learn from it – how can I get ideas about grammar across to you in fewer words? Don’t forget, you can get more information and practice activities and tests for this lesson and others on the website, New English Academy.com. OK, now listen to the text and see if you can spot any adverbial phrases. Good luck!

Comprehension Text - Haiku: Doing more with less

Mon shime ni/ dete kiite oru/ kawazu kana – Coming out to close the gate; ah, frogs! The compact culture of Japan sometimes finds ways to do more with less. Here, in this little 17 sound poem or haiku a person steps out of their house on a warm summer’s evening, to shut the garden gate for the night. However she becomes mesmerized by the voices of frogs calling. For me, this little poem has a large effect.  I can feel the humidity of the evening. I know the quiet routine of closing the garden and yes, I can understand the pleasing, jarring shock of standing still at the gate, not closing it but instead focused on hearing the sounds of the night. I don’t know, but I think the poet is trying to tell me that she is happy to become aware of other things happening outside her routine. All this in just a little 17 sound haiku.

Here’s another example: harusame ya/ kasa sashite miru/ ezoshiya – Spring rain. Beneath an umbrella, browsing, a picture bookshop. I get a sense of soft weather, but taking time to look at books you might want to buy that are displayed even underneath the awnings of a small, interesting bookshop. I also feel like this person is enjoying her solitude. What do you get from this haiku?

I don’t know if it is the shortest poetry in the world, but it is certainly efficient. In two or three short phrases, haiku usually takes the poet’s subjective experience of a common or mundane sight, sound, sensation, etc and adds a contrasting image. This juxtaposition at first seems unconnected to the previous phrase but we are supposed to make a leap of intuition or imagination and make our own conclusion. Obviously this is easier to do with some haiku than others.

Kakemeguru/ yume ya yake no no/ kaze no oto – Wandering dreams! Burnt fields, the sound of the wind. I feel strangely uncomfortable with this one. Wandering dreams makes me feel like I’m not in control of something, that the world round me is meaningless and insubstantial. Then the next image of the burned fields, like after harvest in autumn, says the world is black and smoky and dying. Add to this the sound of the wind over these fields and I have a definite impression of gloom and despair. Not a very happy poem at all.  Is the poet saying that life is hard and meaningless?

Haiku poets know that their words cannot sufficiently convey the whole experience so they are often vague about the subject and the logical connections between the images and ideas. This makes the reader ask questions and fill in the gaps herself. Perhaps the poems are a bit like a picture that deliberately leaves out sharp or clear lines but forces the viewer to add colours and shapes herself. In this way, the poem becomes a combination of the poet’s writing and the reader’s imagination. This can become a starting point for the reader’s own meditation and reflections on the subject.

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Let’s finish with a more cheerful haiku. Hototogisu/ kao no dasarenu/ kooshi kana – A cuckoo! Damn, I can’t get my head through the lattice! So here, the poet hears the distinctive call of a cuckoo. He wants to see it too, and tries to do this, but he can’t get his head through the wooden bars of the screen in the window to see it, and is frustrated. For me, this is so cute and amusing. Imagine a guy, perhaps an older man, struggling to get his head through a small gap in the window to see the little bird he has just heard. I know I have done silly things or have been frustrated about things, but this little haiku perhaps reminds us to have a sense of humour about our frustrations too.