Mike entering unconscious state — this gives pause (5)
I believe the answer is:
comma
'this gives pause' is the definition.
'comma' can be an answer for 'pause' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'this gives' bit.
'mike entering unconscious state' is the wordplay.
'mike' becomes 'M' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'entering' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'unconscious state' becomes 'coma' (I've seen this before).
'm' inserted into 'coma' is 'COMMA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for comma that I've seen before include "Butterfly with orange and brown wings" , "Common punctuation park" , "I signal a break" , ", (stet)" , "repeatedly found in lists" .)