Comma splices

[Gary Merrill <merrill -at- HYPERION -dot- PDIAL -dot- INTERPATH -dot- NET>]

   Well, we all know that comma splices are bad, right?    Perhaps not.  Or
perhaps it is not clear what counts as a comma splice.  I note what I regard
as s disturbing trend in regarding constructions with comma splices as
 grammatically
acceptable.  I wonder how far this has gone, and what your feelings are about
this.  Consider ...

   The sentence

                First select "Edit", and then select "Cut".

is perfectly okay.  I believe that likewise,

                First select "Edit", and then "Cut".

is okay.  But what about

                First select "Edit", then select "Cut".

?  To me, this screams "BAD GRAMMAR" and would have merited summary
execution from my 7th grade English teacher.  Yet I see this kind of thing more
and more often (written by technical writers and passed by their editors).  I
 feel
that it is both ungrammatical (and am prepared to argue this with some
 precision)
and detracts from readibility.

   Stylistically, comma splices are tolerated in certain unusual and constrained
circumstances.  A common example is:

                I came, I saw, I conquered.

(Which, of course, I would *prefer* to render as

                I came;  I saw;  I conquered.

or

                I came.  I saw.  I conquered.

but never mind that preference.)  However, such cases seem to be severely
restricted; and the guidelines for indulging in them typically warn that such
 should
be done sparingly.

   So, as trained and experienced writers, I wonder what both your experience
and inclinations are towards this sort of thing.  More specifically, I am not so
 much
interested in mere *opinion*, but rather in how one is to make a principled
 decision
in such matters.  I will not at this point divulge the results of my research in
 this
area, but will open the floor for discussion and argument.  Have at it.

   Oh -- a word of warnig:  beware the conjunctive adverb.

   (When we're done with this, perhaps we can move on to  "Next week, she will
deliver the draft to you and I." (which I recently saw used by a technical
writer and manager with over 20 years' experience).)

----------
Gary Merrill
   DOD #1668

        '95 GPz 1100