Hi,
As far as I know, “especially” can’t be used at the beginning of sentences, what about “specially” and “particularly”? If possible please give me some example.
Thank you very much.
I don’t believe there is any logical rule prohibiting “especially” at the beginning of sentences. It is terribly awkward, however. “Particularly” does not seem nearly as awkward.
Particularly, I wanted know what inspired such bizarre metaphors.
“Specially” is hardly ever used in American English, so I don’t consider myself an adequate judge of its sound anywhere in sentences. It almost always sounds odd to me. To whoever inquired into the difference between “weird” and “awkward,” this is where I’d choose “weird.”
I can’t think of any examples of them being at the beginning of a sentence.
Hi,
‘(E)specially’ and ‘particularly’ are gregarious adverbs and don’t like hanging around in space on their own. In other words they like to qualify adjectives and verbs. Using them at the beginning of a sentence without any visible connection would be difficult. If you wanted to stress the idea of particularity, you could start a sentence thus: In particular I would like to stress the importance of being polite to customers.
Alan
Hi Alan,
Thank you very much and nice to see you again (fine as usual 
)