Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and I'm so pleased to see you today for our lesson on fronted adverbials.

Now we all know that good writers use a huge variety of language in their writing to keep us excited and interested in what they're saying.

Now, fronted adverbials are a great addition to our writers' toolkit, because they allow us to do just that, to pour loads of variety into our work, to keep it exciting and interesting.

So let's see if we can master this skill together.

Today's lesson is called fronted adverbials, single words, phrases, and clauses.

And it comes from my unit called "key grammar terminology," including determinist and fronted adverbials.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to choose when to use a fronted adverbial single word, a fronted adverbial phrase, or a fronted adverbial clause.

Now this is a really important lesson, because using these different fronted adverbials in our writing adds so much detail and interest for our reader.

It keeps our writing varied and exciting all the way through.

So if we can master this skill, our writing is going to improve so quickly, and it'll be so much more exciting for our reader.

Let's make a start.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

Fronted adverbial.

Comma.

Phrase.

Clause.

And adverbial clause.

Well done.

Now, a fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma, and a comma is a punctuation mark that's used after any fronted adverbial.

We know a comma always has lots of other uses as well.

A phrase is a group of words with no verb, and a clause is a group of words that does contain a verb.

And an adverbial clause is a type of subordinate clause that starts with a subordinating conjunction.

Let's look at our lesson outline.

We're going to start off by identifying different fronted adverbials, and then we're going to be using fronted adverbial words, phrases, and clauses, on our own.

So, we know that sentences can start in different ways.

Here are some examples.

"Desperately, she searched for the ancient ruins." "Full of excitement, she searched for the ancient ruins." "When she reached the island, she searched for the ancient ruins." We can see we've started this sentence in three different ways.

We had a single word, a word, which was "desperately." We had a phrase, a group of words with no verb, "full of excitement." There's no verb in that.

And we had a clause, a group of words with a verb, "when she reached," there's the verb, "the island." So we've started our sentence in three different ways.

Now, fronted adverbials are words, phrases, or clauses, that act as sentence starters, like we just saw.

So we could have this basic sentence, "She searched for the ancient ruins," or we could add those fronted adverbials to the beginning.

So, "desperately", "full of excitement", and "when she reached the island", are all fronted adverbials.

And the fronted aerial gives us more information about the action in the sentence that follows it.

More information about her searching the ruins.

And they're always followed by a comma.

Look how we have a comma after "desperately", after "excitement", and after "island".

So which of these are true for fronted adverbials? Pause the video and decide.

Well done.

Let's take a look.

Are they sentence starters? Yes.

Can they be words, phrases, and clauses? Yes.

Are they followed by a comma? They are.

Do they always contain a verb? No, because we saw that phrases can be fronted adverbials, and phrases do not contain a verb.

So it's not true to say that all fronted adverbials contain a verb.

Fronted adverbial clauses do, and we'll talk more about that in a moment.

Great job.

Now, we can tell that a fronted adverbial is a sentence starter, because if it's removed, the sentence still makes sense.

I could say "embarrassed," there's my fronted adverbial word.

"I walked up to the stage with my face in my hands." But I could remove that word, "embarrassed", and I'd have the sentence, "I walked up to the stage with my face in my hands," which makes perfect sense.

It is a complete sentence.

I've removed the fronted adverbial, the sentence still works.

And in the same way, the fronted adverbial is always followed by a comma, and the section after the comma is the section which makes complete sense, which is a complete sentence on its own.

So I could say, "On Wednesday evening," a fronted adverbial phrase, "I went shopping for bargains." There's the comma.

The section after the comma is, "I went shopping for bargains," which is a complete sentence all on its own.

It doesn't need the fronted adverbial, but the fronted adverbial adds the extra detail for our reader, to give them a bit more information about when, in this case, I went shopping.

So single words and phrases can both be fronted adverbials.

Here are some fronted adverbial single words.

"Now, take the temperature of the mixture." "Here, you'll be able to develop your skills in peace." "Cautiously, I examined the system of pipes and tubes." So all of these are just a single word followed by a comma, and notice how everything after the comma is a complete sentence.

"Take the temperature of a mixture," is the complete sentence.

Here are some fronted adverbial phrases.

"Before long, you'll be more than just an amateur player." "In the dark sky, lightning flashed like a warning." "Full of mischief, she tiptoed down the creaking stairs." And in this case, we've got a group of words, that means more than one word, but no verb.

So "before long" is two words with no verb.

And again, anything after the comma must be a complete sentence.

So each time that fronted adverbial is followed by a comma, and it could be removed, the fronted adverbial, and the sentence would still make sense.

So true or false.

The sentence, "When the competition was over, the results were announced," begins with a fronted adverbial phrase.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

That is false.

Now see if you can justify that.

Why is that false? Pause the video and choose the best explanation.

Well done.

It's B, fronted adverbial phrases can't contain verbs, because phrases don't contain verbs.

And in this sentence, we have the verb "was", "When the competition was over." So this must be a clause, a fronted adverbial clause.

Great job if you spotted that.

Now, an adverbial clause can also be used as a fronted adverbial.

So what is an adverbial clause? Well, an adverbial clause is a group of words that contains a verb, is a type of subordinate clause, so it doesn't make complete sense of its own.

And it begins with a subordinating conjunction.

And those are those words like, "because" and "before" and "while", which we can use to start an adverbial clause.

Here are some examples of adverbial clauses.

"While we watched." "Before we were ready." "After he had finished." So each of these contains a verb.

"Watched," "were", and "had finished", are all verbs.

And notice how each of these starts with a subordinating conjunction, "while", "before" and "after", are all acting as subordinating conjunctions in these adverbial clauses.

Now, when we put those adverbial clauses at the start of a sentence, it's a type of fronted adverbial.

It's a fronted adverbial clause.

For instance, "While we watched, the soldier approached rapidly." "Before we were ready, the competition had begun." So here, we've got the fronted adverbial clauses.

I know they're fronted adverbial clauses because they start with a subordinating conjunction, while and before, and they contain verbs.

"Watched" and "were ready." So they are not phrases, they must be clauses.

They're adverbial clauses, because they start with that subordinating conjunction.

Now, let's say we want to identify where the fronted adverbial in a sentence is, because we want to work out where to place a comma.

Here's an example.

"Because we've produced pollution we've damaged the environment." This sentence hasn't been punctuated, it's missing a comma.

So we need to work out, where does the fronted adverbial end? Well, we can see this part makes complete sense.

That's a main clause.

"We've damaged the environment." So this part must be a fronted adverbial.

In this case, a fronted adverbial clause.

So the comma must go after the fronted adverbial clause.

I know it's a fronted adverbial clause because it starts with a subordinating conjunction, "because", and it has a verb, "have produced." Let's take another example.

"Later in the race the slower runners became a hindrance." That means they were holding us up.

We've got this main clause, "the slower runners became a hindrance." Then this must be a fronted adverbial phrase.

So the comma must go after that fronted adverbial phrase.

Let's practise that tricky skill.

Where should the commas be placed to show the fronted adverbials in these sentences? Pause the video, and by identifying the main clause, work out where the fronted adverbial ends, and the comma should be placed.

Have a go.

Okay, let's take a look.

In A, it should be placed after the word "soon." That's a fronted adverbial single word.

Because look, there's the main clause.

"I began to appreciate how hard Mum worked." In B, it should be after "weeks", because the main clause would be.

"Parliament had made its decision." In C, it should be after "rose." There's a fronted adverbial clause.

The main clause would be, "We trudged to the back of the queue." And in D, it should be, "After we had searched for hours," comma, "we found some accommodation," because the main clause would be, "We found some accommodation." So D is another fronted adverbial clause.

I see those verbs, "had searched", and that subordinating conjunction, "after".

Great job if you've got those commas in the right place.

Now, some words can start both the fronted adverbial phrase, and the fronted adverbial clause.

So we need to be able to work out, have they started a fronted adverbial phrase, in this case, or a fronted adverbial clause? Let me show you what I mean.

We could have this sentence.

"Before sunrise, we joined the long queue to get in." It starts with the word, "before".

We could have this one.

"Before the sun had risen, we were in the queue." That also starts with "before." We could say this.

"As a treat, Mrs. Begum let us have extra story time." Or we could say this.

"As we listened carefully, Mrs. Begum began her explanation." We've used "as" to start both those sentences.

But these aren't all fronted adverbial clauses.

These two don't contain a verb.

"Before sunrise" and "as a treat" have no verbs in those fronted adverbials.

So these are fronted adverbial phrases.

But these two contain verbs.

"Had risen", and "listened", are both verbs.

So these are fronted adverbial clauses.

So we can see that sometimes we have to look a bit carefully to see whether we're looking at a fronted adverbial phrase, or a clause, and we're always looking for that verb, 'cause a verb tells us we have a clause.

So true or false? The sentence, "After a long wait, the results were announced," begins with a fronted adverbial clause.

Pause the video and decide.

Let's have a look.

That is false.

Now see if you can explain why.

What is it that makes it false to say, "After a long wait," is a fronted adverbial clause? Have a think.

Well done.

The answer is B.

"After a long wait" is a phrase, it doesn't contain a verb at all.

So it's not a fronted adverbial clause, it's a fronted adverbial phrase.

Great job.

Let's try another one.

Do these sentences start with a fronted adverbial phrase, or a fronted adverbial clause? Pause the video and decide for each fronted adverbial.

Okay, let's take a look.

"After we had eaten," contains a verb.

So it's a clause.

"After dinner" has no verb.

It's a phrase.

"Before sunset," no verb.

It's a phrase.

And "Before he strikes again," has that verb, "strikes", so it is a fronted adverbial clause.

Great job.

Now, let's do our first task for this lesson.

I want you to decide if each sentence begins with a fronted adverbial clause, a fronted adverbial phrase, or a fronted adverbial single word.

And I want you to add a comma in the appropriate place.

And remember, the way to do that is to identify the main clause.

Here are your sentences.

Pause the video and decide what type of fronted adverbial do we have, and where to add that comma.

Have a go.

Okay, I've highlighted the fronted adverbials for you here.

Let's decide what type of fronted adverbial we're looking at.

Notice the comma in the first one is after "fallen", "Before night had fallen," has the verb "had", so that's a clause.

"All night long," comma.

No verb.

It's a phrase.

"Soon," comma.

It's a single word.

"After it ended," has the verb "ended".

It must be a clause.

"After the 12th of December." No verb.

It's a phrase.

And "Embarrassed," comma.

It's a single word.

Really good job.

We've worked out really brilliantly those different types of fronted adverbials.

Okay, now that we've been able to identify different fronted adverbials, let's see if we can use some in our writing.

Now, the great thing about fronted adverbials is that we can use them in lots of different ways, because they have lots of different purposes.

All of them tell us more about the action that happens after that comma in that complete sentence.

But let's look at some of the different types of fronted adverbial words and phrases to start with.

We can have fronted adverbials of time, like "soon", "in an instant", "just after playtime", and "now".

These show us when the thing after the comma happened.

We could have fronted adverbials of place, like "in the woods", "on the bridge", "there", "at the edge of the forest".

And these show us more about where something happened, where the thing after the comma happened.

And finally, we have fronted adverbials of manner.

Now manner means how you do something.

You do it in a certain manner.

So for instance, "full of misery", "embarrassed", "with a smile", "without a backward glance".

All of these fronted adverbials of manner show us how something happened.

So you can see, if we take all of these together, we have a huge range of different fronted adverbials we can use in our writing, which is gonna make our writing so exciting and interesting to read.

So, I wonder if you can decide whether each fronted adverbial is showing time, place, or manner.

What purpose is it serving in the sentence? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, let's take a look.

In A, we have "full of anger." That's how something's done.

So that's manner.

"With a tear in my eye," shows me how I did it.

I did it with a tear in my eye.

That is manner.

"At the entrance to the cemetery," that's an easy one.

It's telling us about a place.

This is a fronted adverbial of place.

And then, "At that very moment," is telling me something about when.

So it's a fronted adverbial of time.

Great job if you spotted those.

So, we can learn several useful ways of creating fronted adverbials of manner.

Now, these are really important to learn because they're going to give you that variety in your writing, which is going to set you free, to do some really beautiful work.

So let's look at some different ways we can make fronted adverbials of manner.

We can say some phrases.

"Full of" a feeling.

Full of sadness, full of fear, full of desperation, full of anger.

Those are gonna work really well to show what our characters are feeling.

We could use "with a" or "without a".

Again, these are phrases.

With a sigh, with a tear in my eye, without a thought, without looking back.

Again, those will really help us show what's our character doing as they do the action beyond the comma.

There are also some single word fronted adverbials we could use to show manner.

We can use -ED words, like exhausted, devastated, horrified, disgusted.

Notice how again, these show the feelings of our characters.

And finally, we can use -LY words.

Adverbs.

Cautiously, slowly, angrily, hopefully, are all front adverbial single words that show us how the action is being done after the comma.

So the person experiencing these feelings, the person who's feeling exhausted, or the person who's full of fear, must come after the comma.

Let me show you what I mean.

I could say this.

"Horrified, the door creaked open." Hmm.

Or I could say this.

"Horrified, I watched as the door creaked open." Now you probably spotted, that one doesn't work.

The door is not the person who's horrified.

A door can't feel horror, so it's not feeling horrified as it creaks open.

I'm the person who's feeling horrified, as that door creaks open.

So I have to come after the comma.

So "Horrified," comma, "I watched," works properly.

We have to have the same person who's feeling that emotion after the comma.

So let's test that out.

Can you tick all the sentences that use a fronted adverbial of manner correctly, with the right person or thing, after the comma? Pause the video and have a think.

Let's take a look.

A works perfectly.

She is the one who's disgusted, and she comes after the comma.

B does not work.

It's not the lumpy custard that's disgusted, so that won't work at all.

C works, because we're the ones who are full of fear, and we are after the comma.

D does not work.

The house is not full of fear, so the old house cannot come after the comma.

So, really important rule to bear in mind.

Whoever's feeling that emotion in the fronted adverbial has to come after the comma.

Now, most fronted adverbial clauses are used to give more detail about when the action after the comma happened.

So we could start with this simple sentence.

"I felt my stomach rumble." We can use adverbial clauses to give more information about when that happened.

And remember, each of them will start with a subordinating conjunction.

I could say, "When I saw the mountain of party food, I felt my stomach rumble." There's "when", my subordinating conjunction, starting my fronted adverbial clause.

I could say, "As I sat in assembly, I felt my stomach rumble." "While I waited for dad to make tea, I felt my stomach rumble." "Before Maths had even started, I felt my stomach rumble." With that subordinating conjunction there, "before".

Each of these fronted adverbial clauses of time is telling us more about when my stomach was rumbling.

And notice we have a comma at the end of that fronted adverbial clause.

So I wonder if you can match up these fronted adverbial clauses of time to the most appropriate sentences.

We've got the fronted adverbial clauses on the right in green.

Can you match them to the right sentence? Pause the video and have a try.

Okay, let's take a look.

For A, we would say, "As Mrs. Begum blew the whistle, we rushed to find an available spot in the line." For B, we would say, "Before I could argue, Mr. McIntyre made me clap the rhythm to the whole class." And for C, "While we waited to be called, we took the opportunity to chat amongst ourselves." Each of those begins with a subordinating conjunction, which starts off that fronted adverbial clause, which is followed by the comma.

Great work.

Now, let's try another one.

I've got a list of subordinating conjunctions on the right here.

When, as, before, while, and after.

And I've got a simple sentence.

"The queue moved forwards." Can you use a list of conjunctions to think of different fronted adverbial clauses of time that we could put before this main clause, before "The queue moved forward." Pause the video, and see how many you can come up with.

Have a go.

Okay, let's take a look.

Here are my ideas.

I bet you thought of some different ones.

We could say, "When the shop opened, the queue moved forwards." "As my feet began to ache, the queue moved forwards." "Before I could grumble any more, the queue moved forwards." "While we chatted happily, the queue moved forwards." "After we had waited for hours, the queue moved forwards." Each of them starting with a subordinating conjunction to create that fronted adverbial clause.

I hope you got some really good ones.

Well done.

Now, we've talked about different types of fronted adverbials.

We have fronted adverbial single words, phrases, and clauses.

And then we have fronted adverbials of manner, of time, and of place.

So we can use a variety of fronted adverbials to add interest and excitement to our writing.

Here's a passage.

"Full of fear, we tiptoed into the dark cave.

As our hearts pounded in our chests, we glanced at each other anxiously.

Just then, a loud noise came from the depths of the cave.

Instantly, we froze.

While we held our breath, the noise came again.

In the darkness, something was lurking." Now I think that sounded pretty exciting.

And we have a huge range of fronted adverbials used in this passage.

We've got fronted adverbial phrases.

"Full of fear", "just then", "in the darkness." We've got fronted adverbial clauses.

"As our hearts pounded in our chests", "while we held our breath." We've got fronted adverbial single words.

"Instantly." And we've also used different types of fronted adverbial.

Fronted adverbials of manner, like "full of fear." Fronted adverbials of time, we've got loads of those.

"As our hearts pounded in our chests", "just then", "instantly", "while we held our breath." And fronted adverbials of place.

We've got, "in the darkness." So we've used a range of different ways of making fronted adverbials, and a range of different types of fronted adverbials, to give that excitement and interest to our reader.

Now, I wonder if you can identify the different types of fronted adverbial used in this passage.

Where have I used fronted adverbial phrases? Where have I used fronted adverbial clauses? And where have I used fronted adverbial single words? Pause the video, and see if you can spot them all.

Great job.

Let's see if you can spot them.

What fronted adverbial phrases have we got? Well, we've got, "without a backward glance", "in the distance", and "in my chest." None of those contains a verb, so they're phrases.

Clauses, we've got, "as I ran," there's our verb, ran.

And our subordinating conjunction, "as", in that fronted adverbial clause.

And finally, single words, we have "desperately." Great job, if you spotted all of those.

Now, how many fronted adverbials can you think of to add more detail in front of this main clause? This simple sentence.

"We dashed from the cave." I've given you some examples of fronted adverbials of time, and fronted adverbials of manner here.

I don't think fronted adverbials of place would work very well here, and I bet you can think of why, if you think carefully.

Pause the video, and see what fronted adverbials you can come up with to place in front of this simple sentence to make a sentence with a fronted adverbial.

Have a go.

Okay, let's share some ideas.

I'm sure you've got some which are even better than mine.

I could say, "Instantly, we dashed from the cave." That'll be a fronted adverbial single word of time.

I could say, "Full of fear, we dashed from the cave." That's a fronted adverbial phrase of manner.

I could say, "Horrified." I could say, "With a scream." I could say, "When we heard it." That's a fronted adverbial clause, showing time.

And finally, I could say, "As we screamed." All of these are fronted adverbials, which add some detail about what was happening after the comma, about us dashing from the cave.

Great job if you managed to get something similar.

Now, let's do our final task for this lesson.

I have written a passage below which doesn't contain frontal adverbials right now.

I want you to rewrite it, using appropriate fronted adverbials, to add interest and detail for our reader.

And remember, we can use fronted adverbials of time, of manner, and of place.

And you might be able to mix up the different structures of fronted adverbials.

Maybe you can use some single words.

Maybe some phrases, and maybe some clauses.

So, really take your time on this task.

I'm looking for some beautiful paragraphs, with lots of exciting fronted adverbials.

Pause the video, and have a go.

Okay, I've written an example passage here.

Really good job for your effort on this.

Okay, fantastic effort there.

I've written an example passage here where I've added in my fronted adverbials.

Let me read it to you.

I've said, "Cautiously, we stepped through the dark forest.

As we walked, our pulses were racing.

Among the dark trees, I thought I saw dark shapes moving.

All of a sudden, my foot caught on a branch.

Desperately, I tried to free myself.

Just then, I heard a low growl." Now, I hope you agree.

We've really improved that passage by adding those fronted adverbials to tell more detail about what's happening after the comma now in those sentences.

So, what types have I used? Well, I've got some fronted adverbials of manner.

"Cautiously" and "desperately".

I've got some fronted adverbials of time.

"As we walked", "all of a sudden", "just then." And I have a fronted adverbial of place, "among the dark trees." And I've mixed up single words, phrases, and clauses.

I see, "as we walked there", which is a fronted adverbial clause.

So, by combining all those different types together, we've created some fantastic variety to add loads of interest for our reader as they read our passage.

Great job, if you've managed to do the same.

Let's summarise the learning we've done in this lesson.

We learned that a fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma, that tells us more about the action taking place after the comma.

A fronted adverbial can be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.

A fronted adverbial clause contains a verb, but a fronted adverbial phrase does not.

The part of the sentence after the comma must make complete sense on its own.

And, as we've just seen, we can use a variety of fronted adverbials to add detail and interest to our writing.

I really hope you've enjoyed this lesson, and I really hope you're able to apply all this learning to your writing, going forward.

Thank you so much for taking part.

I'd love to see you again in a future lesson.

Goodbye.