How to Use Fronted Adverbials

Adverbials, or adverbs, contribute greatly to any type of writing! They’re useful to describe how, when, and where. Adverbs are helpful in all types of writing, but are especially useful in explanation texts as they can provide your readers with more detailed information about the topic in hand. Young writers need to understand why adverbials are so important in writing, and how to use them. This lesson will focus more on how to use fronted adverbials specifically.

What are fronted adverbials?

Fronted adverbials are adverb phrases that come at the beginning of a sentence. These types of adverbials come before the verb. Fronted adverbials give the reader an idea of what the action being performed will be like before the actual action is performed.

How do you use fronted adverbials?

Fronted adverbials are really not so different from regular adverbs. To create fronted adverbials at the beginning of your sentence, use an adverb that can describe the action, and place it at the beginning of the sentence.

Examples of fronted adverbials

Here are some examples of fronted adverbials for your child writer to reference:

1. Often,
2. Already,
3. Slowly,
4. Quietly,
5. Nearby,
6. Unexpectedly,
7. Rarely,
8. Nervously,
9. Unbelievably,
10. In the distance,

Notice how all of these examples describe how, when, or where about the sequence of events that will follow. Here are some examples of fronted adverbials with their full sentences:

1. Often, Night Zookeeper Will feels excited to go to school.
2. Quietly, Grudge the Bear tiptoed downstairs to get a cookie from the cookie jar.
3. In the distance, Sam the Spying Giraffe was talking to Florence the Flamingo.

Depending on where you palace the adverbial, the sentence structure will be altered. Sentence structure can slightly change sentence meaning and emphasis, which is something to consider when you are using fronted adverbials in your own writing!

A great activity that you can try with your children is to challenge them to identify where the adverbial phrase is in the sentence. You can place sentences side by side as we have done below and then ask them to highlight where the adverbial phrase can be found.

Grudge the Bear quietly tiptoed downstairs to get a cookie from the cookie jar.

Quietly, Grudge the Bear tiptoed downstairs to get a cookie from the cookie jar.

Sam the Spying Giraffe was talking to Florence the Flamingo in the distance.

In the distance, Sam the Spying Giraffe was talking to Florence the Flamingo.

Fronted Adverbials Activities

By now, your child should have a solid foundation of fronted adverbials. We have a fronted adverbial activity for your budding writer to try. Good luck!