In addition to showing such cause and effect, conjunctive adverbs can spotlight a number of conditions, such as a sequence of events or what is similar or different between two things. In the first, the conjunctive adverb “therefore” introduces the effect of the subject running late: “she took the bus.” In the second, “consequently” introduces the result of the subjects having eaten before leaving on a journey: “they didn’t need to stop along the way.” Regardless which option you choose, it’s interesting to note that in each of these two examples, a cause and effect is presented. Consequently, they didn’t need to stop along the way.” If you’re not comfortable using semicolons, it’s fine to change the semicolon before a conjunctive adverb to a period instead and create two separate sentences. “They ate before leaving consequently, they didn’t need to stop along the way.” “She was late therefore, she took the bus.”

When conjunctive adverbs connect two independent clauses such as “He likes to eat salad” and “he loves sushi” in the same sentence, the semicolon-comma combination of punctuation works well, though some would argue the comma after the conjunctive adverb is optional. When preceded by a conjunctive adverb such as “however,” however, “he loves sushi” modifies “likes to eat” in the previous statement in such a way that it provides additional insights into what the subject of the sentence enjoys eating. In my Writing Well post “ Correct Punctuation When ‘But’ or ‘However’ Appear in the Middle of a Sentence,” I used this example for the conjunctive adverb “however”: “He likes to eat salad however, he loves sushi.” On its own, “he loves sushi” can stand alone as a complete sentence.

To put it simply, a conjunctive adverb creates a connection between two independent clauses, groups of words that can stand on their own as complete sentences.Ī conjunctive adverb at work is especially intriguing because it changes the clause it introduces to make it modify the verb within the clause it follows. In my Writing Well post on conjunctions, I discussed how conjunctions are all about making connections.

What is a conjunctive adverb