Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Clauses with as …

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As

-clauses referring to the works of other academics are an alternative to a reporting +

reported clause structure:

By contrast, 

as Gombrich has remarked, little value was placed on clarity in

Renaissance iconography.

(or: By contrast, Gombrich has remarked that little value was placed on clarity in

Renaissance iconography.)

(By contrast, as Gombrich has remarked that little value was placed on clarity in

Renaissance iconography.)

As

-clauses often occur in the passive in academic style to exemplify or compare or to cite

something/someone. In such cases, an it-subject is not used:

Hume’s contention can be avoided by the use of inverse probability, 

as was seen in

Chapter 7, and although the justification of induction has always been a notorious

problem, yet empirically, as Ramsey argued (Sahlin, 1990), induction is convincing

because it is successful.

(Hume’s contention can be avoided by the use of inverse probability, as it was seen in

Chapter 7, …)

The same is true when subject-verb inversion occurs after as:

When total study time was limited but local study time was free,

as was the case in

Experiment 2, the experimental subjects allocated more study time to items in the

non-mobilized category, whereas the control subjects allocated an equal amount of

time to items in both categories.

(When total study time was limited but local study time was free, as it was the case in

Experiment 2, …)