ENGLISH
REFERENCE

hence

adv. sent.
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford US //ˈhɛns// UK //hˈɛns// hence Academic Archaic General-service

adv. for this reason or because of what was just mentioned. You use it to show that one thing leads naturally to another.

adv. as a consequence; for this reason. Functions as a conjunctive adverb to indicate a logical result or inference from preceding information.


SIMPLE

The roads are icy, hence the slow traffic.

CONTEXTUAL

The company failed to innovate, hence its eventual bankruptcy in a competitive market.

COMPLEX

The experiment was conducted under highly controlled conditions, hence the remarkable consistency of the results across all three testing groups.

Synonyms
Origin

A later Middle English spelling, retaining the voiceless -s, of hennes (henne + adverbial genitive ending -s), from Old English heonan (“away", "hence”), from a Proto-West Germanic hin-, from Proto-Germanic hiz, and Proto-Germanic *-anē. Cognate with Old Saxon hinan, Old High German hinnan (German hinnen), Dutch heen, Swedish hän. Related to Old English her (“here”).

Usage

Often used to introduce a noun phrase or a clause; in formal writing, it is frequently preceded by a semicolon or a comma.

Pitfall

He was tired hence he slept.He was tired; hence, he slept.When connecting two independent clauses, 'hence' requires a semicolon before it and usually a comma after it to avoid a run-on sentence.

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