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Can you identify the fronted adverbial in the sentence below?
In the middle of the night, the captured elephant escaped from its enclosure.
Fronted adverbials are words, or groups of words, at the beginning of a sentence telling us where, how, when or how often something happens.
In the middle of the night tells us when the elephant escaped.
This is a fronted adverbial of time.
We always put a comma after a fronted adverbial.
In this activity, we’ll be looking at fronted adverbials of time (which tell us when), place (which tell us where) and manner (which tell us how).
The table below shows some fronted adverbials complete with commas!
| Time | Place | Manner |
| Yesterday, | In the distance, | Happily, |
| Last night, | Below the bridge, | As quick as a flash, |
| A week ago, | Above the barn, | Unexpectedly, |
| At midnight, | Between the trees, | Cautiously, |
| On Wednesday, | Behind the tent, | Like an athlete, |
| Just then, | By the lake, | Bravely, |
Can you pick a fronted adverbial from the table to describe when, how or where something happens in this picture?
How about these?
Bravely, the young boy climbed the gnarled tree.
Between the trees, a boy rested on a wobbly branch.
Can you identify the fronted adverbials in the sentences below?
As quick as a flash, the parrot escaped from its cage.
Above the barn, the golden sun was beginning to rise.
At midnight, the wolves began to howl mournfully.
Each fronted adverbial is hiding in front of a comma telling us where, when or how something happened.
As quick as a flash, (fronted adverbial of manner)
Above the barn, (fronted adverbial of place)
At midnight, (fronted adverbial of time)
In this activity, you’ll be on the hunt for fronted adverbials of place, time and manner.
Don’t forget those commas after each fronted adverbial.
