Learn how to use fronted adverbials to vary your sentence structure and add detail to your writing.
An adverbial is a word or phrase that works like an adverb — adding information about when, where, how or how often something happens. When an adverbial is placed at the beginning of a sentence (before the main clause), it is called a fronted adverbial, and it must be followed by a comma. For example: ‘Silently, the cat crept across the floor.’ or ‘As the sun began to rise, the birds started to sing.’ or ‘Without a moment’s hesitation, she dived into the icy water.’ Fronted adverbials can be single words (‘Suddenly,’), phrases (‘Deep in the forest,’) or subordinate clauses (‘When the storm arrived,’). They are a brilliant tool for varying sentence structure and are a key feature of more sophisticated writing. Overusing them in every single sentence makes writing feel repetitive — but placed carefully, they create pace, atmosphere and impact. A comma after the fronted adverbial is a non-negotiable punctuation rule.