Correct usage of However

I get the feeling any are correct, as long as the 'however' is sectioned off on both sides with a comma. Could be wrong but that's what feels right to me.

None of the above. However, if you want to use however then separate it with a comma from the sentence.

Number one needs a comma before and after however.

Number two is correct.

Number three, from Strunk and White: "Avoid starting a sentence with however when the meaning is 'nevertheless.' The word usually serves better when not in first position.

"When however comes first, it means 'in whatever way' or 'to whatever extent.'

"However you advise him, he will probably do as he thinks best.

"However discouraging the prospect, they never lost heart."

However

However you look at it, Silver King nailed it.

YAY! I chose the right one too!

Its only purpose is to slow down an already slow passage. You're telling the reader what to think/feel because s/he's an idiot. I think you're confusing "correct" with "best" with "good," & none of them is good.

Silver King said:

Number three, from Strunk and White: "Avoid starting a sentence with however when the meaning is 'nevertheless.' The word usually serves better when not in first position.

"When however comes first, it means 'in whatever way' or 'to whatever extent.'

"However you advise him, he will probably do as he thinks best.

"However discouraging the prospect, they never lost heart."

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Let me counter with Language Log. A more balanced view on sentence-initial "however".

Dawnstorm said:

Let me counter with Language Log. A more balanced view on sentence-initial "however".

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I understand this view, and it's the reason I didn't point out Spooky's use of however to begin his second sentence in post #3.

The Henry James and Mark Twain examples are wonderful; however, Strunk's simple explanation seems to be what the OP needed to clarify immediate usage. Sometimes, too much information tends to confuse rather than enlighten.

However

There really is no rule against beginning a sentence with "However," but there should be. Rule or not, it stinks as quality. It's bad writing, and while it can be put down to a personal quirk, it strikes quite a few as bad writing.

As an editor, it always leaves a horrid taste in my mouth.

Go with Strunk & White on this. I don't care what the intended audience was, Strunk & White has rightfully become the writer's Bible, and those who don't follow it are begging for angry editors.

Medievalist said:

I understand that it isn't your personal taste, but Strunk and White is not the editors' Bible--Chicago almost is, and the Chicago Manual of Style has no problem with beginning a sentence with "however"--though they do belong to the punctuation school that wants clausal "however" to be preceded by a semi colon.

Nor do the house style sheets of:

Random House
University of California Press
University of Chicago Press
Oxford University Press
Houghton Mifflin

Object to initial "however."

Honestly, this is not something to sweat over unless your editor tells you it is. It's a usage and style issue, not a grammar issue.

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Nod. Longman is my bible.

Strictly, "however" should be set with commas, but many (writers) just ignore the commas. I won't write sentences like that, but all three are acceptable.

Actually...

there is another way, but I don't think it's American.

"The numbness, however, was not of the irritating kind one would get from being out in the cold too long...

According to traditional rules, such as those laid down by Strunk, your example 2 is the only correct one as "however", in the sense of "nonetheless", is always a parenthetical item pointing to one element within the sentence.

Example: "Research done by Einstein, however, disputes that theory."

Thus it will always have commas before and after it. If we want to use "however" in places where "but" is the real meaning, the traditional rule was to use "but" rather than feign greatness with a longer word that isn't truly synonymous with it. In my English classes now, I tell my students to use "but" to begin a sentence if they must and leave "however", in the sense of "nonetheless", to its traditional use. This also complies with the rule of not using more words, or more complex words, than are really necessary.

Many people nowadays feel uncomfortable using "but" to begin their sentence since at one time that, too, was considered poor style. They think nothing of replacing "but" with "however" even though "however" is not synonymous with "but" and was never considered to be a conjunction.

I once argued in my post-graduate English class that usage can eventually make wrong into right and I gave "irregardless" as the example since a majority of the common folk think it is a word. My professor did not agree.