17 Jan Grammar Blog–“however”

Snow is fine, however I prefer palm trees and flowers.

In the above sentence, the word “however” serves as a transition between the sentence’s two parts. “However” signifies contrast or contradiction, just as “but” does.

There is one grammatical difference between the two words–“but” is a conjunction, linking the two parts of a sentence. “However” is a conjunctive adverb, which means that it partly forms the function of a conjunction, but it isn’t really a conjunction.

The result of this distinction is that “however” must be used with the correct punctuation when it links two parts of a sentence. This can be done in either of two ways:

1. make two sentences: Snow is fine. However, I prefer palm trees and flowers.
2. use a semi-colon at the end of the first part of the sentence (this acts as a period): Snow is fine; however, I prefer palm trees and flowers.