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> And, certainly, in the example you prefer, you are using "then" as a
> conjunction. Why not use a semicolon?
Because it seems to stop the sentence in its tracks.
When speaking out loud, I just don't leave as much of a pause before
'then' as I do other adverbs. In 'click Gimfratz; afterwards* click OK'
I leave quite a long pause between the clauses, to let whoever I'm
talking to get through with clicking Gimfratz before I go on to
introduce the concept of clicking OK. It's two entirely separate steps.
But clicking Gimfratz and /then/ clicking OK is one single step that
comes in two parts. Somewhere between two steps and one; somewhere
between adverb and conjunction.
And why /does/ it have to be one or the other? The human mind doesn't
work in terms of discrete categories, why should the language that
reflects it be forced to?
Sarah Blake
(Apparently working towards applying the Exemplar Theory to anything
that doesn't run away fast enough)
* Please tell me 'afterwards' is an adverb. I can't see why it wouldn't
be - it's doing exactly the same job as 'then', right? - but I live in
terror of having completely missed some fine grammatical distinction.
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
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