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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Then used as a conjunction.
Then used as a conjunction with a comma
I'm trying very hard to get my head around this grammar business. Using this site, the Grammar Rules (writing with military precision) and a mountain of other material. Comma use is my nemesis. I understand most of the rules governing their use, but some of the books I read puzzle me. Take this by Neil Cross;
“He took a steak knife from the drawer, then took the blue bucket from the cupboard.”
And John Grisham;
“Hume made a ton of money clearing out wayward doctors, then created a fierce reputation by destroying a couple of philandering senators.”
Both excellent authors, but can someone explain what the comma use is here. I understand that 'then' is not a coordinating conjunction. There are many such uses in the two books I quoted and I cannot see where ' , then ' comes from. Is it just a style as both are respected authors? Bit of a long winded post but would be grateful if someone can enlighten me. Thanks.
I'm trying very hard to get my head around this grammar business. Using this site, the Grammar Rules (writing with military precision) and a mountain of other material. Comma use is my nemesis. I understand most of the rules governing their use, but some of the books I read puzzle me. Take this by Neil Cross;
“He took a steak knife from the drawer, then took the blue bucket from the cupboard.”
And John Grisham;
“Hume made a ton of money clearing out wayward doctors, then created a fierce reputation by destroying a couple of philandering senators.”
Both excellent authors, but can someone explain what the comma use is here. I understand that 'then' is not a coordinating conjunction. There are many such uses in the two books I quoted and I cannot see where ' , then ' comes from. Is it just a style as both are respected authors? Bit of a long winded post but would be grateful if someone can enlighten me. Thanks.
Top answer
” Those commas are substituting for and .
- ” Those commas are substituting for and .
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3 Answers
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Anonymous“He took a steak knife from the drawer, then took the blue bucket from the cupboard.”Those commas are substituting for and.
And John Grisham;
“Hume made a ton of money clearing out wayward doctors, then created a fierce reputation by destroying a couple of philandering senators.”
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The "rules" for comma use are much looser in fiction than in formal prose. It is perfectly correct for a fiction writer to put in a comma whenever he feels that the narrative is improved by the slight break a comma provides. The best don't overdo it. Even so, I would probably use commas where your two writers did in any sort of writing. We are permitted to insert commas to aid reading.
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