commas

I hate milk and therefore I hate chocolate.

i read a rule that when a cojunctive adverb joins 2 independent clauses it should be seperate using a semicolon but there is another rule that a adverb can be puncuated using set off commas as well, both rules can be used here. there i am confused about how to punctaute a conjunctive adverb in this sentence. Please advise the correct punctaution. Also, is it wrong to say "and therefore?"

[Tdol]

I think different people would use different punctuation, but I would go for this:

I hate milk and, therefore, I hate chocolate.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by chandni

I hate milk and therefore I hate chocolate.

i read a rule that when a cojunctive adverb joins 2 independent clauses it should be seperate using a semicolon but there is another rule that a adverb can be puncuated using set off commas as well, both rules can be used here. there i am confused about how to punctaute a conjunctive adverb in this sentence. Please advise the correct punctaution. Also, is it wrong to say "and therefore?"

Both rules are correct. The problem is that you have a potential conjunctive adverb and a conjunction together. Thus, "therefore" becomes just an adverb here. The "and" does the conjoining.

I hate milk; therefore, I hate chocolate.
I hate milk, and, therefore, I hate chocolate.

As TDOL suggested, some would leave out the comma between "and" and "therefore", making the two words a sort of combined conjunction. The additional comma is more widely accepted.

The punctuation having been dealt with, the logic of the sentence escapes me. :wink:

[bmo]

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

The punctuation having been dealt with, the logic of the sentence escapes me. :wink:

I think it is the milk chocolate he hates. BMO

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by bmo

I think it is the milk chocolate he hates. BMO

Either that or chocolate milk.