Essay Writing and Advanced Punctuation in English

Introductory adverbials taking no comma

As I have dealt with the three essay functions of supporting a thesis, drawing conclusions and signalling transition before, I will use them all at the same time for the introduction of the adverbs. These are supporting our thesis with sources, drawing conclusions and signalling transition to the next paragraph. Please focus your attention on the introductory adverbs.

Analogously we could not provide arguments to prevent harm done to other beings that can not speak for themselves, e.g. babies, mentally deficient humans, comatose or clinically dead people etc. Preferring these human beings merely on the basis of being members of the human species would mean unfair discriminatory treatment of other species. Accordingly Richard Ryder and Peter Singer (2011) call this type of discrimination ‘speciesm’. More precisely, Ryder’s concept of Painism is based on the central idea that it is usually wrong to cause suffering to other beings. Therefore, he argues, all things capable of experiencing suffering should be included within the scope of our morality1. Hence, it may not be necessary that an animal is able to think or speak like a human being. Based on the arguments above, it can be stated that animals ought to be granted their moral status based on a principle of equality as suffering fellow-beings. To follow up this idea further, I would like to investigate into the world of animal feelings to produce further arguments concerning painism and speciesm.
1 Richard D. Ryder and Peter Singer: Speciesism, Painism and Happiness: A Morality for the Twenty-First Century. Andrews UK Ltd., 2011

A skill that I need for all my English sentences is to be able to put my adverbs at the beginning of the sentence and put the right comma. In general: the shorter the initial element, the less the need for a comma. Especially if the sentence is clear, you do not need to put a comma, for example, with adverbials describing manner, place, time and sequence. They do not need a comma as they are usually short and clear. The exception is, of course, the comma to prevent misreading and when they are too long. When a prepositional phrase expands to more than two or three words or becomes connected to another prepositional phrase, the use of a comma will depend on the writer's sense of the rhythm and flow of the sentence. Have a look at the following examples.

Accordingly they call this type …
Analogously we could not provide arguments …
In London meat-free foodies are in the right city.
On Monday we will discuss this matter.
First we will discuss the question of ….
First of all, let us clarify two important concepts: speciesm and painism. (longer)

Before long, disputes about animal rights turned into fierce polemics. (Comma preventing misreading)
Before slaughtering, some butchers kill the pigs with CO2. (Comma preventing misreading).
 
After the CO2 the pigs are not always completely dead. (No comma necessary. The sentence is clear.)
After the transport through the CO2-gas chamber, the pigs are not always completely dead. (We prefer a comma with longer adverbials.)



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