“However” at the beginning of a sentence, a la Shmoop.
However Howard tried, he couldn’t get Lauren to agree to go on a date with him.
However, just because she didn’t say “yes” the first thirty-seven times he asked her
out doesn’t mean he was ready to give up.
Words like “however”, “therefore”, and “nevertheless” are wonderfully useful
in the world of grammar.
These conjunctive adverbs not only work as conjunctions that join two main clauses together…
…but they can also serve as clause-modifying adverbs.
Now, while we’re all familiar with the adverb…
…which modifies verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and… pretty much anything else
we can think of…
…the conjunctive adverb is a bit more mysterious, so here’s the 4-1-1.
Conjunctive adverbs like “however” are transitional words that don’t just pull
together two clauses that could stand as independent sentences…
…but also tell us about the relationship between the two clauses.
Let’s look at some examples.
When we see the conjunctive adverb “however” at the beginning of a sentence…
…and there’s no comma in sight…
…the word “however” is being used to mean “in whatever manner” or “to whatever
extent”.
So, say we have the sentence, “However large the bouquet of flowers Howard gave to her,
Lauren still said ‘no’ to a date.”
Or, say we have the sentence, “However Howard begged, his words did not move Lauren’s
stone-cold heart.”
In these two examples, the conjunctive adverb “however” isn’t being used as a conjunction.
How do we know this?
Because “however” isn’t joining anything together.
Certainly not Howard and Lauren.
Now, if we want to see the word “however” being used as a conjunction, then we need
for it to start a sentence and be followed by a comma.
In this case, “however” always means “nevertheless”.
“Lauren always ate lunch in the cafeteria with her friends to avoid Howard.
However, Howard would still try to sit at her table.”
Here, we have two independent clauses.
The “however” at the beginning of the second sentence is what brings the clauses
together.
Here’s another example.
“Lauren told Howard she didn’t want a boyfriend.
However, he persisted in asking her out.”
Again, the “however” that starts the second sentence is what joins the two clauses together.
Some people say that it’s all kinds of incorrect to start a sentence with the word “however”,
when “however” is a conjunction.
But to be honest…
those people are probably ancient, with white hair and walkers and dentures and the whole
bit.
However, if some elderly grammarian who cannot abide starting a sentence with “however”
is the one grading papers…
…it’s best to just follow her rules and use this workaround: Instead of ending the
first clause with a period…
…join the two clauses together with a semicolon.
Say we have the clauses, “Lauren was busy working on Friday night…period…However,
Howard showed up at Target to continue his wooing.”
Our clauses are two sentences, and the second sentence begins with a “however” that
means “nevertheless”.
We have angered the elderly grammarian!
So, let’s employ the workaround.
“Lauren was busy working on Friday night…semicolon…however, Howard showed up at Target to continue his
wooing.”
We turned the two sentences into one sentence using the semicolon.
“However” no longer begins an independent second sentence.
The elderly grammarian is appeased!
We can use this same workaround with other conjunctive adverbs, like “indeed” and
“nevertheless”.
For example, we could say, “Lauren was getting tired of Howard’s BS…semicolon…indeed,
she told him she’d call the cops if he didn’t leave her alone.”
Or, we could say, “Howard appeared to listen to Lauren when she told him to quit…semicolon…nevertheless,
he kept asking her out.”
There’s one other way we could avoid using a “however” to start a sentence…
…we could place the “however” in the middle of the sentence, surrounded by commas.
“Lauren had a plan for getting rid of Howard.
It meant…comma…however…comma…she had to say ‘yes’ to a date.”
Or…
“Howard went to dinner with Lauren expecting to have a great time.
Lauren…comma…however…comma…was so badly behaved that she horrified him.”
The conjunctive adverb “however” serves many purposes.
It can be used as an adverb…
…or as a conjunction.
It can start a sentence…
…or be in the middle of a sentence.
It may be followed by a comma…
…surrounded by commas…
…or there may be no commas near it all.
It all depends on what we mean by “however”…
…and whether or not there’s an elderly grammarian in control of the red pen.
As for Lauren, she had a fabulous time on her date.
Howard, however, will never look at Lauren the same way again.
He’ll certainly never ask her out for a second date…