Although

Question

I teach English, but have struggled to answer this question for some time regarding subordinate and main clauses.
Example to illustrate:

I would say that Charlotte is my best friend.
I've only known her for a few months.

When two sentences like this are joined with "although", we would naturally say (correct me if I'm wrong):

Although I've only known her for a few months, I would say that Charlotte is my best friend.

And not
Although I would say that Charlotte is my best friend, I've only known her for a few months.

Presumably because we naturally "know" which part of the two items should be "subordinate"
(I've only known her for a few months.) and which "main" (I would say that Charlotte is my best friend.)
But what's the grammar here? Why is the former subordinate and the latter main? Is it because the subordinate has "her"?
Take another example
It was raining.
We went for a walk.
Although it was raining, we went for a walk.

What grammar tells us that the "rain" is subordinate and the "walk" is main?

Confused of Italy..cheers!

Fandorin · Accepted Answer

I think this is because "although" introduces adverbial clause which is clause (sorry for tautology) and answers the question "why" in your very case.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousBut what's the grammar here? ... What grammar tells us that the "rain" is subordinate and the "walk" is main?

There is no grammar that can help you with that. It is a question of meaning. You have to know what although means, and you have to know how the world works -- what things natually lead to other things.

For example, do people see that it is raining and say, "Oh, that's wonderful! It's raining! This is a good time to go for a walk!" Or do they say, "It is not a good time to walk because it is raining"?

Suppose instead that it is sunny. Do people say, "Oh, I'm so sorry that it is sunny. It will be very bad to go for a walk now"? Or do they say, "Oh, what a beautiful, sunny day. It is perfect for walking!"

If you are like most people, you associate the weather conditions with walking like this:

rainy weather --> not good for walking -- Let's not walk.

sunny weather --> good for walking -- Let's walk.

So what if it was raining, but people walked anyway? That's unexpected. So you say,

Although it was raining, we went for a walk.

That is like taking the path shown in bold below.

rainy weather --> not good for walking -- Let's not walk.

sunny weather --> good for walking -- Let's walk.
__________________

I would say that Charlotte is my best friend.
I've only known her for a few months.

Here again you need to think about what sorts of things lead to other things.

If you have known someone for a long time, you might become best friends.
If you have not known someone for a long time, it is not likely that you are already best friends.

So the combination of not knowing someone very long (only a few months) and being best friends is unexpected. You say,

Although I've only known her for a few months, I would say that Charlotte is my best friend.

because it is unexpected that knowing someone for a few months would lead to being best friends. We expect people to know each other for a longer amount of time before they become best friends. The unexpected combination is shown below.

short time knowing someone --> not best friend
long time knowing someone --> best friend

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Brilliant! Thanks for the very detailed reply.

Although

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