More on Conjunctive Adverbs

A conjunctive adverb can appear either at the beginning of a sentence or within it. When it starts a sentence, a comma should follow it.

Example: Nevertheless, he ate the ice cream.

When it’s within a sentence, how it’s punctuated depends on what surrounds it. If there’s an independent clause on each side, it needs to be punctuated as described in the previous post.

Example: Today is the first day of spring; however, I’m going to miss winter.

When a conjunctive adverb “interrupts” a sentence that contains only one independent clause, the adverb needs to be “encased” in commas.

Example: For breakfast, however, she prefers to eat oatmeal.

Note: If a group of words that begins with a capital letter and ends with a period lacks an independent clause, it’s a sentence fragment. (“Stop!” is a sentence because its subject, “you,” is implied, and its meaning is understood. It expresses a complete thought.)

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