I definitely follow the semicolon part, but for me, the presence or 
absence of a comma after the adverb depends not on a syllable count but 
on whether or not the word marks a distinct contrast or break in 
thought. Thus for me, "however" and "still" (= nevertheless) get commas, 
but a word like "therefore" does not.

Note that there's some variation comma use in such contexts. People who 
favor a more closed punctuation style would probably use a comma after 
"therefore."

On your example with "then," it's still an adverb. In this case, 
however, you have not two independent clauses but a compound predicate 
(joined without "and," i.e., it's asyndeton), so the absence of a 
semicolon, or even a comma, is appropriate.

On 2/11/2011 12:57 PM, John Dews-Alexander wrote:
> I want to check my own understanding of a few things. This message might
> meander, but it goes somewhere, promise!
>
> First, is this a very common punctuation standard? *
>
> A conjunctive adverb, when used to join two independent clauses, is
> preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma unless the conjunctive
> adverb is one syllable, in which case the comma is not necessary.
>
> *Following this rule, we would write:
>
> "The first freeze of winter arrived; however, the plants were saved due
> to the gardener's efforts."
>
> "The first freeze of winter arrived; then the gardener wept over his
> dead plants."
>
> Is this a punctuation convention that list members use?
>
> Second, I'd like to ask about the word "then". It seems like a
> prototypical conjunction, functioning to join a concept with a temporal
> modifier. The example above would qualify as would this one, which uses
> the conjunction as an adverbial NOT between two independent clauses:
>
> "You are late. You go, then, to the back of the line.
>
> But what about this:
>
> "He turned the ignition then slammed his foot on the gas pedal."
>
> "Then" is not functioning as a conjunctive adverb. It's neither
> adverbial nor conjunctival (conjunction-like?). In this case is it
> functioning as a preposition? If so, is the verb phrase "slammed his
> foot on the gas pedal" serving as object of that preposition?
>
> Am I on the right track here? I'm trying to answer a student question
> about why our native instinct is to say:
>
> Speaker A: "Who should go first?"
> Speaker B: "You then me." (Instead of "You [go] then I [go].)
>
> Is it "me" because it is serving as object of a preposition ("then")?
>
> Thanks for weighing in on this!
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