comma splice or clause coordination / with 'then' [adverb]

[Ithildyn]

"Sometimes they will be reviewed in the following session, sometimes they must be handed over between two sessions."

I'm wondering if I just did a comma splice here? To my francophone brain, the clauses are related enough to be coordinated but they might also be considered independent since they both have a subject-verb of their own.... so I think I might have made myself guilty of a dreaded comma splice, but I'm not entirely sure.

Could I simply use a semicolon here and call it a day? (I love semicolons)
Or must I really add "(,) and"?

On a related note, can I make a sentence that goes:

"You must do [this], then do [that]."

Or must I absolutely write "You must do [this](,) and then do [that]."?

Thank you!

 

[lucas-sp]

Technically, yes: you are "guilty of a comma splice."

However... the structure of your sentence is so clearly balanced in terms of the "Sometimes... , sometimes..." symmetrical pattern that a comma splice isn't jarring. In fact, a semicolon might be too strong, since the words themselves serve a highly punctuating role.

 

[entangledbank]

No, I don't think it's a comma splice. The two halves are naturally coordinated but lack an overt coordinator 'and'. They are grammatically connected, that is, in a way that semicolon-separated clauses aren't. You surely wouldn't consider a semicolon in a rhythmically shorter version like:

Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

 

[lucas-sp]

Or, of course, "You say po-TAY-to, I say po-TAH-to."

Technically this has to be a comma splice. But fragments and run-on sentences are entirely acceptable stylistically under certain conditions. Here, a semicolon would be too harsh and divisive, and other elements of the sentence are doing the job punctuation would otherwise do.

 

[Ithildyn]

Thanks a lot, both of you!
I'll happily leave my sentence as is, then. (you'll have your chance some other time, semicolon!)

If I could bother you guys a little more, I sadly can't seem to find a specific example (my document is huge, I just spent 15 minutes looking for one and failed (I shouldn't have told the autocorrector to ignore them, oops)) but Word has been bothering me about certain sentences I've had to translate that have a construction similar to "You might want to do [this] and [that], then [something]."
Word seems to be adamant I should write ", and then" but often I already used that conjunction earlier and didn't feel it was needed in front of "then".

Sorry this is so vague, but, in short, any idea why Word (2002, bleh) does that- do you think it's more likely to be a stylistic issue rather than a grammatical one?

EDIT: Wait I found one:
"It is recommended to pause and stop talking, then to look at the disruptive participants and ask them to pay attention."

...It's not a pretty sentence but I'm not sure I can stray far from the original structure... anyway, this sentence is full of "and"s, I'd rather not add a new one in front of the "then" (though if I must, I guess I'll snip one of the other two.)

Thank you! (even if you can't help me with that second issue, thanks for the replies on the comma splice one!)

 

[EStjarn]

Word seems to be adamant I should write ", and then" but often I already used that conjunction earlier and didn't feel it was needed in front of "then". [...] do you think it's more likely to be a stylistic issue rather than a grammatical one?

I think it's a stylistic issue. In your sentence, as you say, an extra 'and' may be one too much. However, if the sentence had looked something like

It is recommended to pause, stop talking, look at the disruptive participants, (and) then ask them to pay attention.

I think the case for using an 'and' would have been much stronger. (Cf. the thread punctuation: a comma before 'then'.)

 

[Ithildyn]

Aah, thank you!
Alright, since it is likely a stylistic issue, I'll take these on a case-by-case basis.

Speaking of which, I just did stumble upon another case:
"He stayed multiple times in youth centres, (and) then went to jail for more, and more serious, charges of theft and assault."

Word inserted a "and" there, but there already are two of these in the last part of the sentence.
There isn't a long enumeration before the "then", only a single clause, and it's quite "and"-heavy, therefore, I think I'll pass here too!

Thanks a ton!

 

[Thomas Veil]

As a separate issue, I think "recommend" takes subjunctive rather than infinitive: "It is recommended that one pause..."