Commas with Conjunctive Adverbs

Conjunctive adverbs connect ideas within a sentence or between sentences. Basically, they’re transition words. Here’s a list of common conjunctive adverbs:

Accordingly

Also

Anyhow

Besides

Consequently

Conversely

Finally

Furthermore

Hence

However

Indeed

Instead

Likewise

Meanwhile

Moreover

Nevertheless

Next

Otherwise

Similarly

Still

Subsequently

Then

Therefore

Thus

These words follow different rules than the subordinators (AWWUBBIS) we learned about in the beginning of the year!

Whenever you include a conjunctive adverb within or at the end of a clause, set it off with commas:

Ms. Sterling wanted her students to write silently. Her students, however, had spring fever.

Ms. Sterling wanted her students to write silently. Her students had spring fever, however.

When you use a conjunctive adverb to connect the ideas of two independent clauses, you must use either a period or a semi-colon between the two clauses and then a comma after the conjunction:

Ms. Sterling wanted her students to write silently. However, her students had spring fever.

Practice: Correct the punctuation and capitalization of each of the following sentences.

  1. Wonder Woman has always been good at wrapping gifts. She still accepts the free gift-wrapping services at Barnes & Noble however.
  1. Harry Truman loved his pet pig. Making it wear his clothes however was pretty weird.
  1. George Bush did not want to feed the elk an apple, therefore, he gave it the string cheese snack from his lunch bag instead.
  1. Every weekend, Cinderella ambushed her friends with water balloons, as a result, they began carrying Super Soakers to defend themselves.
  1. John Quincy Adams decorated the tree with shiny baubles, as a result, birds tried to steal the ornaments.
  1. Minnie Mouse wants to play the drums and practices all the time, however, her parents wish she'd learn something less noisy.
  1. Abraham Lincoln puts way too much mustard on his hamburgers. His uncle stopped letting him serve himself in fact after he used up an entire bottle at a barbecue.
  1. Goofy dreams of visiting Hawaii someday. Spending time in the hot sun however makes him break out in a rash.
  1. Tinkerbell dressed up as a clown to help out at her young cousin's birthday party. Her jokes, however, were too advanced for the children to understand.
  1. Donald Duck spent Tuesday morning playing a new video game, meanwhile, he missed his study group for final exams.

Your turn! Practice placing a conjunctive adverb at the beginning, middle, and end of a clause. Follow my model:

Ms. Sterling is psyched to go to the World Cup in Brazil this summer. Nevertheless, she must focus for the rest of the school year.

Ms. Sterling is psyched to go to the World Cup in Brazil this summer. She must, nevertheless, focus for the rest of the school year.

Ms. Sterling is psyched to go to the World Cup in Brazil this summer. She must focus for the rest of the school year, nevertheless.

Beginning:

______

Middle:

______

End:

______