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Transition; "As Such"
In Transition
By Evan Jenkins
Transitional words and phrases are often necessary, but not as often as we use them. The exhausted "meanwhile," the slightly haughty "indeed," the currently fashionable, pince-nez professorial "to be sure" sometimes arise from unexamined reflex, not sense.
And sometimes when knee jerks, foot lands in mouth. It did in the unthinking reach for transition here: "After all, an independent Chronicle, with no Examiner to carry, would be much more profitable. As such, there have been rumors for more than a decade about the Examiner's pending demise."
As such what? Nothing in the first sentence leads logically to "As such" in the second. The phrase needs preparation, a person or thing or characteristic to which it refers, as in "The cook was Dutch and behaved as such." If a transition was needed in our example (whether it was is at least arguable), then "For that reason" or "Consequently" or other things we can all imagine would have built one. "As such" was a misguided reflex; we need to stop and think.
CJR
