Expert: Ted Nesbitt - 4/17/2008

Question
I always get confused when punctuating a sentence including the word "therefore." My employer used the following sentence in a report:

This task is similar to classroom reading activities and therefore provides a good measure of a student’s reading skills within the classroom.

Answer
Tish:

"Therefore" is usually used as a "conjunctive adverb," that is, an adverb that "joins."

If it connects two independent clauses, it is preceded by a semi-colon and followed by a comma.  That rule is ABSOLUTE.  For example -- A sufficient number of the committee members failed to attend the meeting; therefore, the meeting was cancelled.

When "therefore" appears WITHIN a sentence and does not join two clauses, it is called a "parenthetical expression."  You can leave it out, and the sentence will still have meaning.  But, the inclusion of "therefore" suggests a "causal effect" -- that one thing follow another.  The word -- since it is not necessary but just is "helpful" -- is set off with commas.

The task . . . . reading activities and, therefore, provides . . . "

Another example:  The meeting was not well attended and, consequently, was cancelled.

Some people claim that we use too many commas.  In YOUR sentence, I go with the grammarians that believe in setting off parenthetical expressions with commas -- well, you COULD use actual parentheses, but no one does that!

Ted Nesbitt