Comma after whereas at beginning of sentence

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English translation: no automatic comma after whereas

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Law/Patents - Linguistics

English term or phrase: an automatic comma after "Whereas"? Most any recitals in most any agreement I come across begin with "Whereas", which is invariably followed by a comma, as in "(B) Whereas, the Assignor has full authority to dispose of the assets of company X;" any rationale for the comma please? seems perfectly useless to me, unless of course a phrase is thrown in between the "Whereas" and the "meat", which is not the case in above example

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ben baudoin
France
Local time: 08:34

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dziêkujê!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +16	no automatic comma after whereas	ben baudoin
3 +6	Not necessarily, but maybe...	Tony M
5	the rationale ...	Jackie Bowman

9 mins   confidence:

peer agreement (net): +16

no automatic comma after whereas Explanation: it just depends on the sentence (as you've said)	ben baudoin France Local time: 08:34 Specializes in field Native speaker of: French PRO pts in category: 4
Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)   pike   Armorel Young   Patrick McKeown: the operative word is "automatic" (which is why I can't agree with Dusty even though he's right, too!); the oppositional adverb "whereas" should not be followed by a comma, unless, as you point out, it is followed by some sort of relative clause   Krisztina Lelik   Gillian Scheibelein: agree with Patrick and Pidzej. The comma in this sentence is incorrect - no pause is required after whereas   -> thanks !!   NancyLynn   senin   Vicky Papaprodromou   Tahir   Kristina Thorne   -> many thanks !   vixen: with Patrick   elenus   Alfa Trans (X)   Hacene: only if whereas is followed by an embedded clause. e.g.: ..whereas, as seen above, ...   Laurel Porter (X): however... One often runs into entrenched style issues. If you're translating for a law office, e.g., which has ALWAYS used a comma after "whereas", you're not going to have much luck convincing them to change now. Good luck!   -> many thanks

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32 mins   confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

an automatic comma after Not necessarily, but maybe... Explanation: It all depends on the relationship between the 'whereas' and what follows! In the kind of construction you're referring to, if the 'whereas' has the sort of meaning of 'In consideration whereof...' relating to what PRECEDES it, then the comma IS required, in my opinion. If, however, the 'whereas' relates SOLELY to what FOLLOWS, then in my op. it is not only superfluous, but even liable to introduce confusion...	Tony M France Local time: 08:34 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 156
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15 hrs   confidence:

an automatic comma after the rationale ... Explanation: … is that in such a context the word is not being used as an “oppositional adverb” (as somebody above said it was) but as an introductory conjunction. In such a case it means “considering that”, “it being true that”, or simply “since”, and so on. It is there to set up what follows, not to modify what comes before. It is most normally seen in parliamentary or congressional resolutions and similarly formal documents, and (in the European Parliament, at least) it is required. Normally all the succeeding paragraphs will begin with it or some variation of it, (”considering”, for example), and the cumulative effect is to compile a list that sets up the justification for whatever, finally, is being resolved/agreed. It is a formulaic preamble, and it’s not pointless. The comma, I suppose, could be replaced by a colon, but it’s such a traditional, widespread and entrenched formula that there is no call for such a change. All the best	Jackie Bowman Local time: 03:34 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
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