> This has been a delightful conversation to pick up on some dozen
messages in.
   There are two parts to Peter's original question about and, or, for,
nor, so, yet, and but. Are they conjunctions? John's movability test is
a good one, and it's one that they will pass. Are they coordinate? In
other words, do they leave both sides equal? I would say yes for and,
but, or, nor, but not for so, yet, and--especially--for.  So when we
call them coordinating  conjunctions, I like to tell my students that
they are RECOGNIZED as coordinating conjunctions within a standard
grammar, which means (if we follow the best rule books) we can start a
sentence with any of them without making it a fragment. So these are
different questions, one about meaning, the other about the analysis (a
little faulty) behind traditional punctuation conventions. You can also
ask questions about their role in discourse flow.
   With my own students, a very high percentage of run-on sentences fit
the model of adverb opening second clause. So I think it is important
to talk about how adverbs are movable (nice test) but also that they do
not CONJUNCT. Subordinating conjunctions (not the adverbs, like however
or therefore or now or then)have a conjunctive function, but also
subordinate one clause to the other. (The subordinated clause has a
grammatical role in the main clause, more often than not adverbial.)
   You can make a case that "He wanted to please her, for she was the girl
of his dreams" is very close to "He wanted to please her because she
was the girl of his dreams." I would like to call both subordinate, but
traditional grammar (and the punctuation conventions that come with it)
recognize the "for" as coordinating. "For she was the girl of his
dreams" would not be a fragment in traditional grammar, but "because
she was the girl of his dreams" would.
   I do have a roughed out article on this somewhere, one that never got
past the extensive note stage. It's an intereresting area because it
highlights some of the different kinds of questions we can ask of
written language choice. What does it contribute to meaning? How does
it influence the flow of discourse? What does traditional grammar say
about it?

Craig

> In a message dated 6/1/07 3:01:05 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
>> Perhaps “clause; however, clause” is the standard convention, but we
>> also
>> allow “S.  However, S” if the contrast is stronger. 
>>
>
> I've always taught that "clause; conjunctive adverb, clause" is the
> standard
> convention, but Ed Schuster, in his wonderful book Breaking the Rules,
> points
> out that, in fact, "clause. Conjunctive adverb, clause" is much more
> common.
>
>
> I wonder why I have been insisting on the semicolon version for all these
> years . . . and why almost all the handbooks do too.   Schuster recognizes
> Lynn
> Troyka's as the only one he is aware of that, at least, recognizes the
> equal
> correctness of the version with a period before the conjunctive adverb.
>
> Peter Adams
>
>
>
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