On Mon, 29 Jun 1998, William J McCleary wrote:

> 1. Is the conjunctive adverb a closed set, or can a creative writer invent
> new ones? Here are two that one of my students has used:
>
> To help gauge self-information, self-concept, and perceived problems, Brand
> used the responses to the aforementioned questions and the Tennessee
> Self-Concept Scale and the Mooney Problem Check List. Albeit, Brand did not
> include the models or the bases for the TSCS and the Check List.
>
> Brand's experimental group did increase in range of self-information and
> sense of identity. Though, the experimentals did not grow significantly
> more introspective than the controls.

'Albeit' and 'though' are subordinate conjunctions; as such, they are as
(il)legal for use as conjunctive adverbs as any other sub. conjunctions
are, right?

I read these two items as fragments, a common enough problem in student
writing (although only a problem in formal written language). Note
especially how the last item is synonymous with one that would be more
acceptable, at least in informal writing:

'The experimentals did not grow significantly more introspective than the
controls, though.'

As to the license of the creative writer, we all know that fragments can
be used for stylistic effect, and we also know that formal style keeps
them to a minimum. I would warn students to avoid fragments until they are
either very advanced writers or until they know they are writing for an
audience that will accept them. Since fragments can get people into
trouble when they are writing for a grade, it's a good idea to be on the
lookout for them and practice avoiding them in formal writing.

>
> 2. When trying to teach students about the necessity of putting a
> semi-colon before the conjunctive adverb and a comma afterward in compound
> sentences, is it necessary to also contrast this situation with the one in
> which the same word is used within a sentence? Do students ever get
> confused?

I'd say yes to both questions. And a decent test is to have the students
do a tag-question test on the strings they want to put before and after
the conj. adverb. This will tell them whether they need a semicolon (if
both items pass) or a comma (if one or both fails):

>He was an idiot; however, that did not prevent him from being elected.

>His idiocy, however, did not prevent him from being elected.

He was an idiot, wasn't he? That did not prevent him from being elected,
did it? (both pass: semicolon needed).

*His idiocy, didn't it?
*Did not prevent him from getting elected, did it?
(Neither passes; comma needed).

In general, I tell my students never to use a semicolon in a place in
which they can't use a period; but of course this doesn't help for the
fragment situation, where they are using a period incorrectly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics              ~
English Department, California Polytechnic State University   ~
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407                                     ~
Tel. (805)-756-2184     Fax: (805)-756-6374                   ~
E-mail: [log in to unmask]                           ~
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