How is however punctuation

The word however is overused in business writing and the punctuation that goes with it is often incorrect. Different meanings of however Part of the confusion occurs because of the different meanings of however. She did manage to pass the exam. There is no reason why not and it is commonly used. However, some writers would prefer to not start a sentence with however for risk of offending.

This is one area where people get confused because sometimes you need a semicolon before "however" in the middle of a long sentence and sometimes you need a comma before "however" in the middle of a long sentence.

So remember, don't let anyone tell you that it's wrong to start a sentence with "however," and it's often more effective to use the simpler word "but. Fourth Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, Aaron, J. The Little, Brown Essential Handbook. New York: Pearson Education, , p. Scharton, M. Second edition. Spina, G. Naperville: Sourcebooks, , p. Hacker, D. Garner, B. Oxford University Press. February 6, Stilman, A.

Grammatically Correct. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, , p. Lutz, G. Grammar Desk Reference. Can anyone help? Thank you for your comment, Josh. So this information will be very useful for me. Please, send these information to me, I need all of these to teach my students. Thank you. It is very useful.. The mistake writers make is to incorrectly place a comma in place of a semicolon before conjunctive adverbs, as illustrated in the sentence below: Example 2: The festival was to be held today , however , it was canceled due to the rainy weather.

Note the corrected form of Example 2 below: Example 3: The festival was to be held today ; however , it was canceled due to the rainy weather. February 22, at am. Marilys Jacqueline Escudero says:. January 13, at pm. Andrew D. December 30, at pm. You can also put it at the beginning of your sentence, without a comma afterwards. How do I want to travel to Hawaii? However you want. Author: Catie Holdridge. Read more Popular topics Advice and tips Grammar Choose your words wisely Plain English Email Language abuse Bids and tenders Report writing Uncategorised Psychology and linguistics Reader-centred writing Online and social media Technology Punctuation Podcast Technical writing Spellings Presentations and speeches