Using the word SO as a conjunctive.

Question

I was taught that using the word SO after a Comma was incorrect.So, is it acceptable to join sentences using SO without a comma, in the way that AND is used?What are the rules?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I was taught that using the word SO after a Comma was incorrect. So, is it acceptable to join sentences using SO without a comma, in the way that AND is used?[/nq]
Many people do it, so you might pay attention to them; however, most people don't do it so you might pay attention to them.

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[nq:2]I was taught that using the word SO after a ... without a comma, in the way that AND is used?[/nq]
[nq:1]Many people do it, so you might pay attention to them; however, mostpeople don't do it so you might pay attention to them.[/nq]
As you can see, the reason a comma is often preferred is that without a comma the "so" can at first seem to form part of the previous clause.

Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Many people do it, so you might pay attention to them; however, most people don't do it so you might pay attention to them.[/nq]
[nq:1]As you can see, the reason a comma is often preferred is that without a comma the "so" can at first seem to form part of the previous clause.[/nq]
My first , which wants a comma, means something like "and therefore"; my second , which wants to go commaless, means something like "in order that." Coco's teacher may have ignored this distinction, or may merely dislike the first , but people continue to speak & write it anyway.

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Coco Knut filted:
[nq:1]I was taught that using the word SO after a Comma was incorrect. So, is it acceptable to join sentences using SO without a comma, in the way that AND is used? What are the rules?[/nq]
Maybe we should have an election to decide...and then we can stop it before all the votes are counted, for as the slogan says "as New Hampshire goes, so goes the nation"..
That, by the way, is a mess on Google...with 2170 hits on "goes so goes the nation", the first three pages name the bellwether as:

Google
Kentucky
California
the family
Virginia
Maine
Texas
Ohio
the pulpit
Kent State
General Motors
the President
Microsoft
Sipowicz
the church
Google itself seems to be in the lead at this point...something smells..r

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[nq:1]Coco Knut filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]I was taught that using the word SO after a ... the way that AND is used? What are the rules?[/nq]
[nq:1]Maybe we should have an election to decide...and then we can stop it before all the votes are counted, for ... General Motors the President Microsoft Sipowicz the church Google itself seems to be in the lead at this point...something smells..r[/nq]
I always thought the original version was "As goes Maine, so goes the nation." (38 Google hits out of out of 2160 for "so goes the nation" here). Amended in 1936 to "As goes Maine, so goes Vermont". See http://www.coba.usf.edu/departments/isds/faculty/dummeldinger/landon.htm. New Hampshire don't enter into it.

Don Aitken

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]My first , which wants a comma, means something like "and therefore"; my second , which wants to go commaless, ... have ignored this distinction, or may merely dislike the first , but people continue to speak & write it anyway.[/nq]
My teacher maintained that using it in the first way was unnecessary, as it could always be better expressed with two short sentences, the second one starting with SO.

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The inimitable Coco Knut (Email Removed) stated one day
[nq:2]My first , which wants a comma, means something like ... , but people continue to speak & write it anyway.[/nq]
[nq:1]My teacher maintained that using it in the first way was unnecessary, as it could always be better expressed with two short sentences, the second one starting with SO.[/nq]
Your teacher is too dogmatic about this point; "always" is usually a pointer for dogmatism. Geoffrey Leech's An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage says this (p 434): "'So' as a linking word: "so" links two clauses or sentences. . . . Ben had lost his money, so he had to borrow some from me". This is how I've always used "so" and no one has ever criticized it. In formal writing for example, in technical writing it might be better to use "therefore", the more formal equivalent of "so" in the example given by Leech.

In less formal writing, there is no reason not to use "so" as a conjunction or linking adverb, and there is no reason not to begin a second sentence with "So". It's a rhetorical choice.

The only major difference, as far as I can see, is that there is a longer pause between the word the ends the first sentence and "So" at the beginning of a second sentence than there is when the two sentences are conjoined. That pause can have a rhetorical effect that is not necessarily desired in some sentences, especially the one Leech gives as an example. It slightly emphasizes the result. In Leech's sentence, the result seems too matter-of-fact to want emphasis. Unless Ben makes a habit of of losing or forgetting his money or of borrowing money from "me", there is no reason for "me" to emphasize that Ben had to borrow some from "me".

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]As you can see, the reason a comma is often ... at first seem to form part of the previous clause.[/nq]
[nq:1]My first , which wants a comma, means something like "and therefore"; my second , which wants to go commaless, ... have ignored this distinction, or may merely dislike the first , but people continue to speak & write it anyway.[/nq]
I was taught that 'so', when used in the sense of 'therefore', should be preceded by a semi-colon, just as 'therefore' is.
Cheers, Lea

Lea V. Usin

Using the word SO as a conjunctive.

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