starting a sentence with "therefore"
starting a sentence with "therefore"
(OP)
I submitted the following as part of a report for my boss' technical review.
My boss brought it back with the following corrections:
So he did two things:
#1 - He clarified that the first sentence excludes the line side. OK, I thought that was obvious but I can accept that he wants to spell it out.
#2 - He joined two sentences with a comma-delimited "therefore". He said one should never start a sentence with the word "therefore".
I resisted my urge to whack him upside the head and just grunted at him instead. It looks to me like he just created a paragraph that has a lot more words arranged in a less-clear structure (run-on sentence).
Is he right about not starting a sentence with therefore?
Quote:
The location of the heat appears to be limited to the fuse clip or the load-side terminal of DS29. Therefore, this hotspot does not pose any concern for any circuits other than the circuits fed by DS29.
My boss brought it back with the following corrections:
Quote:
The location of the heat appears to be limited to the fuse clip or the load-side terminal of DS29. Line side wiring and terminations do not appear to be affected, therefore, this hotspot does not pose any concern for any circuits other than the circuits fed by DS29.
So he did two things:
#1 - He clarified that the first sentence excludes the line side. OK, I thought that was obvious but I can accept that he wants to spell it out.
#2 - He joined two sentences with a comma-delimited "therefore". He said one should never start a sentence with the word "therefore".
I resisted my urge to whack him upside the head and just grunted at him instead. It looks to me like he just created a paragraph that has a lot more words arranged in a less-clear structure (run-on sentence).
Is he right about not starting a sentence with therefore?
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.





RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
-- Never say 'never.'
"Therefore,..." is OK as the start of a conclusion.
The sentence ", therefore,..." is too long.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
"Line side wiring and terminations do not appear to be affected; therefore, this hotspot does not pose any concern for any circuits other than the circuits fed by DS29."
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
But I'm not sure if we'd all agree.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
rmw
PS: was your report intended to go up to the neckties or other non technical types who wouldn't intuitively have understand the fore going and need it spelled out? I often have to revise things that I have to pass along upstairs because I know the technical incompetence of the readers that it has to go to. If anything can be misunderstood, they will misunderstand it.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
It's in the Bible. Your boss is a heathen.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debters.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil... Amen."
-- King James Bible (1611).
Re the word which started it all:
"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober..."
--- 1 Peter 1:13
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
Therefore, be a good boy and do as you're told otherwise your name will be entered in the little black book...
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
I would change it to...
"The location of the heat appears to be limited to the fuse clip or the load-side terminal of DS29. Therefore, this hotspot does not pose any concern for circuits other than those fed by DS29."
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
I believe in putting the effort where it is warranted.
Some documents are worth polishing and some are not, depending on the audience and purpose of the document. This one was not.
Yes, I do appreciate the importance of making my boss happy. I also appreciate that I don't have unlimited time to meet the demands placed upon me. The result is that I prioritize my activities and resist requests to spend time on activities that add no value.
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
debodine
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
The boss is completely wrong, though. Even if one buys into the prohibition against starting a sentence with a conjuction, "therefore" is not a conjunction. It's an adverb. A conjunctive adverb, if you will, but an adverb nonetheless.
http://www.esldesk.com/grammar/adverbs.htm
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
Rule #1: The boss is ALWAYS right.
Rule #2: When the boss is wrong, see rule #1.
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
RE: starting a sentence with "therefore"
The construction with two independent clauses separated by semicolons is more common, but there's really no big grammatical difference between that and two sentences separated by a period.
I had a friend who had seen "however" so often with a semicolon before and a comma after that he thought that's just the kind of punctuation that goes with "however" regardless of context. So he'd write things like, "The dog; however, chased the cat."
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376