It’s true that however is sometimes used this way, as in “However it is defined, the middle class is standing on shaky ground,” to borrow an example from COCA. Strunk & White and others forbade however in sentence- or clause-initial position, sometimes with the argument that in this position it can only mean “in whatever way” or “to whatever extent.” ( But would also work here, though in that case it would be preceded by a comma and not followed by one.)īob also mentioned that he sometimes starts a sentence with “however,” and this usage is a little more controversial. Note that “however” is also followed by a comma. The first example is incorrect, while the latter two are correct. However, I will be back on Wednesday to collect my wages. I am leaving on Tuesday however, I will be back on Wednesday to collect my wages. I am leaving on Tuesday, however, I will be back on Wednesday to collect my wages. Since however falls into this group, it should be preceded by a semicolon, though it can also start a new sentence. Though they do show a relationship between two clauses, that relationship is more semantic or rhetorical than grammatical.

These terms are probably more accurate since (I believe) words and phrases like however are not, strictly speaking, conjunctions. I’ve also seen the terms “transitional adverb” and “transitional phrase,” though the latter usually refers to multiword constructions like as a result, for example, and so on. Independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions are separated by a comma independent clauses that are not joined by coordinating conjunctions or are joined by what OWL calls “conjunctive adverbs” require a semicolon. The rule here is pretty straightforward, and Purdue’s Online Writing Lab has a nice explanation. He says that a comma always seems fine to him, but apparently this causes people to look askance at him. Several weeks ago, Bob Scopatz asked in a comment about the word however, specifically whether it should be preceded by a comma or a semicolon when it’s used between two clauses.

Comma after namely