Therefore vs. Therefore

This short lesson will show you several different uses for the transition words. In the first sentence that you saw, therefore was being used as a connector for a compound sentence. As you’ve already learned, when you join two independent clauses with a transition word, you have to put a semicolon in front and a comma after. You also saw this sentence. In this sentence, therefore is being used as an introductory phrase. And as you already learned, introductory phrases need a comma after them. You also saw a sentence with therefore being used as an interrupting phrase. Remember, that what a transition word interrupts a sentence, you put commas around it. So if it’s in the middle of the sentence, you would have a comma before and after the transition word. Look at some more examples. All of these sentences have therefore. Can you decide how therefore is being used in each one? Look at the first one. This is the reason that you should buy a house is a complex sentence. Therefore is just and interrupting word, so we put commas around it. Look at the second sentence. Here we have two independent clauses, and we’re joining them with therefore. So remember to put a semicolon in front and a comma after. Look at the third sentence. Here we have two separate sentences. But in the second sentence I’m using an introductory phrase, so I put a comma after therefore. Here’s a list of some other transition words that have different uses. Some of these words can go in the same places as therefore. But some of the words, like first, cannot be used as an interrupting phrase. Just keep in mind that these can be used in some different ways. It’ll take practice to learn how they’re all used. How did you do on the exercise? In the first sentence, thus was being used as an interrupting phrase. Even though that’s a long sentence, it’s just a simple sentence. And because thus is interrupting, we put commas around it. In the second sentence, however was being used to join two sentences. So we use a semicolon in front of it and a comma after. In the third sentence we had an introductory phrase, in addition, so we put a comma after it. And in the last sentence, we had an interrupting word that was at the end of the sentence, so we put a comma in front of also. Remember that transition words can be punctuated in several different ways.