Then

[GG]

"The thought hadn't been present, then suddenly it broke in."

Any prescriptions about _not_ placing "then" after a comma?
I find it usually after a period or a semi-colon, or after a "comma and."

Thanks.

[StephenCalder]

I would make it two sentences to avoid the semicolon, or insert "and" as
you mentioned.

--
Stephen
Ballina, NSW

[Eric Walker]

No prescription I have ever heard of. Castings using it are really a
matter of style, hence personal preference. When the sentence is short
and clear, it should be harmless. Sentences with it often have it after
a conjunction:

I watched the movie, and then went to bed.

It costs $20, and then there's sales tax besides.

By parallelism with those examples (from the AHD4), one could write:

"The thought hadn't been present, and then suddenly it broke in."

Or, perhaps better:

"The thought hadn't been present, but then suddenly it broke in."

As I said before, though, I think that in short clear uses, the
conjunction can be dispensed with. (Analogous to uses like this
description of a musical presentation: "John sang, Mary played.")

What I find more ill-styled is the use of the parenthetical word
"suddenly" without any setoffs. I grant that--

"The thought hadn't been present, then, suddenly, it broke in."

--is not much better, but either of--

"The thought hadn't been present; then, suddenly, it broke in."

or

"The thought hadn't been present, then--suddenly--it broke in."

might be better. Or perhaps best of all, skip the issue:

"The thought hadn't been present, but suddenly it broke in."

--
Cordially,
Eric Walker

[GG]

Eric Walker wrote:

[snipping great stuff because of the server]

Great instruction:-)

Thanks, everybody.