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<blockquote data-quote="babomb" data-source="post: 2398831" data-attributes="member: 1316">Well, that could be confusing, I'll concede, but if &quot;David's mother&quot; were being used as an appositive, a semicolon should follow it: &quot;We considered Miss Roberts for the roles of Marjorie, David's mother; and Louise.&quot;It was always okay. In fact, your example would be wrong WITHOUT the semicolon. However doesn't connect the two clauses. I'll use this example: &quot;The first part was easy; however, the second took hours.&quot; It looks like however is connecting them, right? Suppose I rearrange it: &quot;The first part was easy; the second, however, took hours.&quot; I haven't changed the meaning, but now however clearly is not used to connect the clauses.Just for extra clarity, I'm going to replace the first however:This is a misleading example. However appears to be connecting the clauses. If we remove &quot;however&quot;, the real conjunction becomes clear:If is what connects these clauses, and a comma is needed because the subordinate clause is first. In reveal's original quote, however serves the same purpose as in my example above (&quot;The first part was easy; the second, however, took hours.&quot;).Do you see the difference?If you are using however to mean &quot;by contrast&quot; or &quot;nevertheless&quot;, punctuate the sentence exactly as you would if however were not in the sentence. Then add however in and surround it with commas. (It's pretty obvious, but if a semicolon's already there, you don't need a comma on that side.)On the other hand, if you're using however to mean &quot;in whatever way&quot;, &quot;to whatever degree or extent&quot;, or &quot;in what way&quot;, you probably shouldn't have a semicolon next to it: &quot;It was very clever, however he did it.&quot; Note that a semicolon in this example would change the meaning quite a bit!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="babomb, post: 2398831, member: 1316"] Well, that could be confusing, I'll concede, but if "David's mother" were being used as an appositive, a semicolon should follow it: "We considered Miss Roberts for the roles of Marjorie, David's mother; and Louise." It was always okay. In fact, your example would be wrong WITHOUT the semicolon. [i]However[/i] doesn't connect the two clauses. I'll use this example: "The first part was easy; however, the second took hours." It looks like [i]however[/i] is connecting them, right? Suppose I rearrange it: "The first part was easy; the second, however, took hours." I haven't changed the meaning, but now [i]however[/i] clearly is not used to connect the clauses. Just for extra clarity, I'm going to replace the first [i]however[/i]: This is a misleading example. [i]However[/i] appears to be connecting the clauses. If we remove "however", the real conjunction becomes clear: [i]If[/i] is what connects these clauses, and a comma is needed because the subordinate clause is first. In reveal's original quote, [i]however[/i] serves the same purpose as in my example above ("The first part was easy; the second, however, took hours."). Do you see the difference? If you are using [i]however[/i] to mean "by contrast" or "nevertheless", punctuate the sentence exactly as you would if [i]however[/i] were not in the sentence. Then add [i]however[/i] in and surround it with commas. (It's pretty obvious, but if a semicolon's already there, you don't need a comma on that side.) On the other hand, if you're using [i]however[/i] to mean "in whatever way", "to whatever degree or extent", or "in what way", you probably shouldn't have a semicolon next to it: "It was very clever, however he did it." Note that a semicolon in this example would change the meaning quite a bit! [/QUOTE]

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