Only Connect—or Don’t, for a Change

By Geoffrey Pullum. When working with my students—Germans and other nonnative English speakers—on papers and theses, I can often spot those who have taken an academic writing class by the number of conjunctive adverbs that litter the work. My impulse is to cut all these therefores, consequentlys, and additionallys, though I recognize their appeal. When I’m working as a journalist, I often need to write quick articles that rely heavily on conjunctive adverbs and conjunctions (but, nor) to pull readers through the twists and turns of the story; the more time I’ve got to craft a piece, the more confident I become in barer sentences to provide that drama. More...