Recognise Adverbials and Fronted Adverbials of Time

Jenson ate his sandwich at lunchtime.

In this sentence, which words tell us when Jenson ate his sandwich?

At lunchtime tells us when he ate his sandwich.

This is an example of an adverbial.

Adverbials add more information to a sentence by telling us where, when or how something happens.

In this activity, we’ll be looking at adverbials of time which tell us when something happened.

Adverbials of Time

Jaya read her book on Wednesday.

On Wednesday is an adverbial of time telling us when Jaya read her book.

Can you find the adverbial in this sentence?

Joe kicked the ball during break.

During break is an adverbial of time telling us when the ball was kicked.

Fronted Adverbials

We can move the adverbial to the start of the sentence and our sentence would still make sense.

During break, Joe kicked the ball.

This is now called a fronted adverbial because it is at the front of the sentence.

Can you see the comma after the fronted adverbial?

If we put an adverbial at the start of a sentence, we must put a comma afterwards.

Here is a simple sentence about this picture:

The boy walked his dog.

We can add a fronted adverbial to the start of this sentence telling the reader when the boy walked his dog.

In the morning, the boy walked his dog.

Can you think of a fronted adverbial to add to this sentence?

Beth ate a tasty pizza.

How about:

In the evening, Beth ate a tasty pizza.

In this activity, you’ll be on the hunt for adverbials and fronted adverbials.