Tragically

[Khandro]

Which is best;
.... he died tragically (of the ‘Spanish Flu’ epidemic which swept through Europe in 1918; he was only 38.)

or; he tragically died ........

please ?

[Paigntonian]

If you use tragic in the Shakesperean sense then it doesn't mean a sad death. The reason why he called several of his plays tragedies, like Macbeth, is because he meant it to mean that the character's actions led to his or her own downfall. Macbeth fails because of his character. In a literary sense it is near to hubris. A little girl falling under a bus is, however heart-rending, not a tragedy in the original use of the term.

[Atheist]

I agree with "Tragically, he died of ......."

[10ClarionSt]

Why not say he just pegged out suddenly?

[andres]

He fell ill with Spanish flu and tragically died.

[DTCwordfan]

Tragically, he died of sniffallis, nasally induced that it was.

[Peter Pedant]

A little girl falling under a bus is, however heart-rending, not a tragedy in the original use of the term.

come on, come on, this is the C16 view of tragedy - a man destroyed by defect of character not only actions. All the O level essay ( macb moi) address his character defects, - and if we fail? - if we fail, we fail etc
First introduced by Aristotle innit?

but what about tragedy - from trag - oidos - goat song - Ha !
you didnt expect that didja !

His deff was tragic returning to the OP
and so I reckon, "Tragically....
adverbs can wander around the sentence in English far more freely than in Dutch or German