Conjunctive Adverbs and Transitional Expressions

A conjunctive adverb or a transitional expression indicates the relationship between the independent clauses that it joins.

The speech was long and repetitious; consequently, people in the audience began fidgeting in their seats and whispering among themselves.

“To excel the past we must not allow ourselves to lose contact with it; on the contrary, we must feel it under our feet because we raised ourselves upon it.”

José Ortega y Gasset, “In Search of Goethe

from Within, Letter to a German”

Commonly Used Conjunctive Adverbs

accordingly	however	moreover
besides	indeed	nevertheless
consequently	instead	otherwise
furthermore	meanwhile	therefore

Commonly Used Transitional Expressions

as a result	for instance	on the contrary
for example	in fact	that is

When a conjunctive adverb or a transitional expression is used between independent clauses, it is preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma.

The leaders of the two nations saw no hope for a settlement; however, they were willing to meet again.

The leaders of the two nations saw no hope for a settlement; on the other hand, they were willing to meet again.

When used within a clause, a conjunctive adverb or a transitional expression is set off by commas.

The leaders of the two nations saw no hope for a settlement; they were willing, however, to meet again.

The leaders of the two nations saw no hope for a settlement; they were, on the other hand, willing to meet again.

The following sentences display some common conjunctive adverbs in different syntactic positions:

Invariably, also, the latest presents from Ramona's admirers were displayed.

—Saul Bellow, Herzog, p. 193.

It is, besides, far to the west of all direct European influence.

—William Carlos Williams, Selected Essays, p. 222.

He reflected, however, that Mrs. Struthers's Sunday evenings were not like a ball, and that her guests, as if to minimise their delinquency, usually went early.

—Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, p. 155.

Miss Brodie, however, had already fastened on Mary Macgregor who was nearest to her.

—Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, p. 73.

Indeed, everyone who knew Matt recognized it and all our friends came to sympathize with him and with me and to see how we took our misfortune.

—Joyce Cary, Herself Surprised, p. 56.

The hopeful attitudes are phenomena, indeed, about which we are today somewhat embarrassed: the culture's youthful indiscretions and extravagances.

—R. W. B. Lewis, The American Adam, p. 195

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Other common conjunctive adverbs include too, hence, consequently, nevertheless, then, otherwise, on the other hand, likewise, therefore, and similarly, and many others. Their placement in the sentence, as the examples indicate, is generally a matter of the writer's discretion, but certain standards of punctuation are usually followed; the conjunctive adverb is set off from the rest of the sentence by commas, and, when joining two independent clauses, is preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma. Even the rule requiring the semicolon may be waived by the creative writer, here with the effect of an informal parataxis:

She was willing to die for him, therefore could he not live for her?

—Robert Penn Warren, World Enough and Time, p. 367

This is a rather hazardous usage for the amateur, however, and even for the professional who has a strong-willed editor.

Overuse, not misuse, is the most frequent error with conjunctive adverbs, and the result is invariably either clumsy or stilted, and usually both. Professional writers, even essayists, are quite sparing in their use of these rather weighty connectives, and their appearance in prose fiction is generally limited to a few of the shorter and more common ones.