comma with 'then' [adverb]: is it a comma splice?

[Calchas]

She raised her sallow face, then dropped her head again.
Is this a comma splice?

Paul ate the strawberries, then he turned his attention to the chocolate cake — is a comma splice.
Paul ate the strawberries, then turned his attention to the chocolate cake — is this a comma splice? [elliptical construction (no repeat of subject as in the first example). Does this make any difference?]

If you were writing a multi-predicate sentence, you could write:
She raised her sallow face, dropped her head again, and opened the envelope.
This is not a comma splice.

She raised her sallow face, then dropped her head again, and opened the envelope.
This is not a comma splice either. Notice how close it is to the first sentence. The coordinating conjunction 'and' is elsewhere, yet it all works! How peculiar this grammar.

 

[anjam918]

Calchas,

The first sentence is, indeed, a comma splice.
Pls go through the following link as it will clarify on the use of "then".
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm
See the sub-head "The Case of Then and Than".

anjam918

 

[pob14]

I don't think the first sentence is a comma splice. As I understand it, a comma splice is the joining of two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction. Since "dropped her head again" is not an independent clause, there's no problem. Same thing for the second sentence about Paul and the strawberries.

 

[Loob]

I don't have any problem with any of the sentences. It seems to me that "then" can certainly be used as a conjunction, and has long been used as such. There's some previous discussion at Is "then" a connector?

 

[Cagey]

This thread seems relevant: then/and then - comma splice?
It includes some discussion of why people might sometimes consider the use of then a comma splace.

You can find can find more discussions by searching in the box at the top of the page for comma splice.