They slowly and carefully started walking

[99bottles]

Here is an interesting structure that doesn't come up very often. But now that it did, how about you tell me your opinion, if this isn't a lot of trouble to you?

Where are the two adverbs best positioned in this sentence?

Slowly and carefully, they started walking towards the entrance.

They started slowly and carefully walking towards the entrance.

They started walking towards the entrance slowly and carefully.

Myself, I think that in the first option, it sounds as if they were slow and careful only when they began the action -- not necessarily through the course of it. The second option sounds as if they were already walking, until they decided to switch to a slow and careful manner of walking. In the third option, the adverbs seem too far from what they modify. So, what do you think?

 

[5jj]

You missed one:

They started walking slowly and carefully towards the entrance.

 

[99bottles]

You missed one:

They started walking slowly and carefully towards the entrance.

Is it the correct one? It seems to have the same problem as the second option anyway.

 

[jutfrank]

I suggest you use 5jj's version. The adverbs stay next to what they modify (walking).

The context would show whether they were already walking or not, but without context, I think the most likely interpretation is that they started walking, not that they started walking in a new way.