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Comma Question-"and therefore," or "and, therefore,"

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Latest post Fri, Oct 16 2009 12:48 AM by Clive. 36 replies.
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Anonymous  +  183913 Mon, 16 Jan 06 06:09 AM

I suddenly am unsure about how to punctuate a sentence which has " and therefore" in it.  Do you say "So and So would not benefit from this treatment, and therefore, I have recommended that he forego the surgery"? or "So and So would not benefit from this treatment and, therefore, I have recommended that he forego the surgery."?  The comma before "and" and after "therefore" as in the second example sounds correct to me because of the pause when saying the sentence aloud.  What do you think?

Thank you.

AnonymousThinking [*-)]
Anonymous
Best answer by Clive  +  393650 Wed, 18 Jul 07 07:05 PM

Hi guys,

I would usually write this kind of thing thus:

He loved her, and therefore he married her.

or He loved her. Therefore, he married her.

Best wishes, Clive
Clive
All the other replies..
pieanne  +  183955 Mon, 16 Jan 06 09:21 AM

I agree with you, Anon. The punctuation of the first example doesn't sound very good to me.
pieanne
Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005
South of France ...But I'm Belgian!
Veteran Member 7,517
I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...
,
YoHf  +  184967 Tue, 17 Jan 06 07:59 PM

I suddenly am unsure about how to punctuate a sentence which has " and therefore" in it.  Do you say "So and So would not benefit from this treatment, and therefore, I have recommended that he forego the surgery"? or "So and So would not benefit from this treatment and, therefore, I have recommended that he forego the surgery."?  The comma before "and" and after "therefore" as in the second example sounds correct to me because of the pause when saying the sentence aloud.  What do you think?

I think the second one is the right one as well. It actually sounds much better when being said aloud.

Yes [Y]
YoHf
Joined on Wed, Oct 26 2005
Senior Member 3,347
Shinichi Okazaki.
Anonymous, 3 yr 75 days ago
The second one is correct. The first one is poor style.
Anonymous, 2 yr 204 days ago
Actually, both one and two are poor style.  The sentence you wrote has two independent clauses; therefore, you should use a semicolon after the first independent clause.  Leave out the "and" completely. 
Anonymous, 2 yr 126 days ago
I agree with the last posting.  "Telephone [T]herefore" is a transitional element in the example given.  It should be preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma.  The word "and" should be omitted completely, as it is unnecessary in the example given -- Anon.
Anonymous, 1 yr 272 days ago
you could just take out the 'and' 
Clive  +  480234 Fri, 22 Feb 08 01:08 PM

Hi,

you could just take out the 'and' 

Strictly speaking, therefore is not a conjunction, so I wouldn't omit the 'and' in careful writing.

Best wishes, Clive
Clive
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