Year 4 · SPaG · Fronted adverbials and commas
Year 4 using fronted adverbials worksheet and PowerPoint
To move an adverbial to the start of a sentence, add the comma and choose a fronted adverbial that fits.
Adverbials
An adverbial is a word or phrase that tells you more about the verb. It can say when (time), where (place), how (manner) or how often (frequency). When an adverbial comes at the start of a sentence it is a fronted adverbial, and we put a comma after it.
| time | Later that day, we went home. |
|---|---|
| place | Behind the shed, we found a nest. |
| manner | Without a sound, the cat crept away. |
| frequency | Every Saturday, we visit the park. |
Examples
- We found a nest behind the shed. → Behind the shed, we found a nest.
- The dog barked every night. → Every night, the dog barked.
Key words
- adverbial
- a word or phrase that tells you more about a verb
- fronted adverbial
- an adverbial put at the start of a sentence
- time
- tells you when
- place
- tells you where
- manner
- tells you how
- frequency
- tells you how often
What is on the worksheet
Every sheet for this lesson has a short teaching box and 12 questions that get gradually harder: 8 fluency questions, then 4 reasoning questions that ask pupils to explain or choose. A writing challenge follows. The questions use the same styles as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, fill the gap, add punctuation, rewrite, explain). They are written for this website, not copied from past papers.
All the answers are on the last page of the same editable Word file. New questions are made every time, so you can print a different sheet for every group or for homework. The same sheet code always gives the same sheet.
Writing challenge: Write a paragraph of six sentences about a stormy night. Start at least four of them with a fronted adverbial and check every comma.
Pupil target: I can use fronted adverbials in my writing.
The PowerPoint
A 20-slide lesson deck for the same lesson: a starter that revisits earlier learning, key words, an I do and a You do question on each slide with a countdown timer, answers that appear one click at a time, and a challenge. Download the using fronted adverbials PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 7 of 60 in the Year 4 SPaG scheme, in the block “Fronted adverbials and commas”.
Other lessons in this block
- What is an adverbial?
- Recognising fronted adverbials (1)
- Time adverbials
- Place adverbials
- Descriptive adverbials
- Recognising fronted adverbials (2)
- Fronted adverbials together
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