Year 4 · Grammar and punctuation
Fronted adverbials and punctuating speech
Use fronted adverbials, using commas after fronted adverbials
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Use fronted adverbials, using commas after fronted adverbials
Key learning points
- • Moving the phrase to the front
- • Why writers use them
- • Punctuating direct speech
- • New speaker, new line
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 19 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- No marked quiz yet
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 19
Watch first
Fronted adverbials and punctuating speech
Learn exactly where speech marks go around a character's words.
In a nutshell
Use fronted adverbials, using commas after fronted adverbials
What you already know
Part 2 of 19
Before we start
What you already know
You can write a full sentence with a capital letter and a full stop.
Key words
Part 3 of 19
Key words
Words you'll need today
- adverbial
- A word or phrase telling you when, where or how.
- fronted
- Moved to the front of the sentence.
- inverted commas
- The marks around the exact words someone says.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 19
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 — Fronted adverbials
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 19
Learn
Moving the phrase to the front
'We set off after breakfast' can become 'After breakfast, we set off.' The phrase tells you when, and because it now sits at the front, it takes a comma after it. Try 'On the top step,' (where), 'Without a sound,' (how), 'Later that evening,' (when).
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 19
Learn
Why writers use them
Fronted adverbials control pace and stop every sentence sounding the same. Use them now and then, not in every sentence — three in a row starts to feel like a list. The comma is not optional: it shows the reader where the phrase ends.
Quick check
Part 7 of 19
Quick check
Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
Quick check
Part 8 of 19
Quick check
Which is a fronted adverbial?
Reset break
Part 9 of 19
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 19
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 — Direct speech
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 19
Learn
Punctuating direct speech
Direct speech needs inverted commas around the exact words, a capital letter to start them, and punctuation inside the closing mark. 'Wait for me!' shouted Alex. If the sentence ends there, use a comma inside instead: 'I am nearly ready,' said Mia.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 19
Learn
New speaker, new line
Every time a different person speaks, start a new line. It stops readers losing track of who is talking, and it means you do not need to write 'said' after every single line of a conversation.
Quick check
Part 13 of 19
Quick check
Correct speech punctuation?
Quick check
Part 14 of 19
Quick check
When do you start a new line?
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 19
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Forgetting the comma after a fronted adverbial.
- Putting the full stop outside the inverted commas.
- Keeping two speakers on the same line.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 19
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 17 of 19
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
'We set off after breakfast' can become 'After breakfast, we set off.' The ____ tells you when, and because it now sits at the front, it takes a comma after it.
____ adverbials control pace and stop every sentence sounding the same.
Direct speech needs inverted ____ around the exact words, a capital letter to start them, and punctuation inside the closing mark.
Mastery quiz
Part 18 of 19
No quiz for this one
This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.
Lesson round-up
Part 19 of 19
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
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Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The last bus
The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.
She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.
Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.
Original extract written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
- How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
- Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.
Reading response
ReadingRead the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
WritingWrite your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.
250–350 words
Reading log
ReadingNote the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.
20 minutes' reading
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover