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Park sang joon Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

, when lives might have been saved.

When millions died during the civil war in Rwanda, both Europe and the United States were harshly criticized for not intervening early on, when lives might have been saved.
[Source: Reading for Results Ninth Edition by Laraine Flemming]

I can't understand why two time-adverbial clauses is used with a main clause.
So I was wondering if the second "when" has a special function.
Thank you in advance for your help.
  

Top answer

The first "when" means at the time . " Have a look at the third meaning of when on that same page.

— Teechr

  • The first "when" means at the time .
  • " Have a look at the third meaning of when on that same page.
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4 Answers
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The first "when" means at the time.
Have a look at the first meaning of when here:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/when

The second means "considering the fact that."
Have a look at the third meaning of when on that same page.

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They are at different "levels". The second one modifies "not intervening early on", while the first one modifies the whole of the rest of the sentence.
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park sang joonI can't understand why two time-adverbial clauses is used with a main clause.
The first modifies the main clause; the second modifies another adverb ('early on').
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teechrThe first "when" means at the time.Have a look at the first meaning of when here:http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/when The second means "considering the fact that."Have a look at the third meaning of when on that same page.
Actually I r
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