RE: "and then," or simply "then"?

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Tom Johnson wrote: 

> > > [TJ] Also note that two short independent clauses separated by a
> > > coordinating conjunction don't always require a comma. For
> > > example, "Timothy played the guitar and Betty sang." See The
> > > Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, section 6.32.

Well, yes, but you've drifted completely away from the original issue --
it wasn't about punctuation. 

In the example above, "and" is quite properly used as a conjunction, and
the comma is optional -- the sentence is grammatically correct with or
without it. 

Now change the sentence to "Timothy played the guitar then Betty sang."
I submit this would be grammatically _incorrect_ with or without the
comma. The issue, as in the original post, isn't the comma, it's the
misuse of the adverb "then" as a conjunction.  

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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