An adverb at the beginning of a sentence. A comma follows an opening adverb. All adverbs give information an action.

Adverbs that tell how an action happened(quickly, slowly, rapidly) always end in ly. Other adverbs tell when an action happened (now, then, yesterday), or where an action happened (Overhead, nearby, underneath)

How: Unfairly, we poked fun at him, often in his presence.
--Sue Miller, While I was Gonei

When: Then, Harry felt as though an invisible pillow had quite suddenly been pressed over his mouth and nose.
--J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Where: Outside, I found a taxi for her.
--Maya Angelou, The Heart of a Woman

Sentences can contain single or multiple opening adverbs.

Single opening adverb: Incredibly, the man was still chasing after us.
--Annie Dillard, An American Childhood


Multiple opening adverbs: Then, slowly, he fell to his knees and pitched forward onto the road, blood pooling red on the black asphalt.
Robert Ludlum, The Moscow Vector

Practice 2: Unscrambling to Imitate- In the model and the scramblist, identify the opening adverb. Next, unscramble a write out the sentence parts to imitate the model. Finally, write your own imitation of the model and identify the opening adverb.

Model: Suddenly, Alfred, who had heard the fight from the across the street, attacked from the rear with his favorite weapon, an indoor ball bat.
John Steinbeck, Cannery Row

Suddenly

d. afterward c. Jasmine b. who had read the novel for over two hours a. sat up in the bed with her nightly snack e. a mini Oreo cookie

Own Sentence: Then, Jack, who had been running for thirty minutes, stopped and had a heart attack.

Practice 3: Combining to Imitate

In the model, identify the opening adverb. Next, combine the list of sentences to imitate the model. Finally, write your own imitation of the model and identify any opening adverbs.

Model: Outside, the doctor's car was surrounded by the boy while Finny was being lifted inside by Phil Latham.
John Knowles, A Separate Peace

a. This happened inside.
b. The younger children were involved with games.
c. While they were involved, Laura was being tutored near them.
d. The tutoring was by their teacher.

Inside, while, the younger children were involved with games, Laura was being tutored by their teacher.

Own Imitation Sentence: Outside, while the storm raged, Kelsey ran for the puppies.

Practice 4: Imitating
Identify the opening adverbs in the model and then write your own example.

1. Here, relatives swarmed like termites.
--Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety
Here

Own Imitation: Here, I had only a bottle of dr. pepper.

2. Slowly, methodically, miserably, she ate the jellied bread.
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Slowly Methodically Miserably

Own Imitation: Quickly, orderly, gladly, i shot the enemies with my sniper rifle.

3. Very slowly and very carefully, Harry got to his feet and set off again as fast as he could without making too much noise, hurrying through the darkness back toward Hogwarts.
--J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Slowly Carefully

Own Imitation: Very hesitantly and very slowly, the man started to move towards the station, afraid that he might get shot in the back.