- Published on
(A proofreader's note regarding “then”)
Since “later,” “after,’ “then,” and “next”
Are one-word adverbs of time,
Like “subsequently,” “afterward,”
They live by rules sublime.
Conjunctive adverbs joining thoughts
Expressed as clauses, more,
Must bow with every entrance made,
Give clue to function sure.
The comma brought along is clue
Of clause-wide role ahead,
To modify the thought to come
While linking that which led.
A sentence here may illustrate
This role so commonly seen:
“We'll have to let the fruit get ripe;
Indeed, it's still too green.”
But “then” is special like its peers,
The one-word temporal ones:
“They pranced and danced and lost their pants;
Then all fell down at once.”
Among conjunctive adverbs all,
These words when functioning thus
Do not require the comma's arm,
But strut with status plus.
The regular adverbs similar are,
For different reason though:
No comma cometh in between
Such adverb and its bro'.