We've been talking a lot in
the last few Punctuation and Professionalism segments about
coordinating conjunctions. And one of the most common
questions I get from students is, "Can I use one to start a sentence?" The answer is an emphatic yes. In the best-selling book, Dreyer's
English, the copy editor Benjamin Dreyer calls the prohibition against
starting a sentence with "and" or "but" in particular "one of the great
nonrules of the English language." Here's his advice.
"Do begin a sentence with 'And' or 'But,' if it strikes your fancy to do so. Great writers do it all the time. As do even not necessarily great writers,
like the person who has, so far in this book, done it a few times and
intends to do it a lot more." Dreyer does, however, offer
the following caveat: "An 'And' or 'But' (or a 'For' or an 'Or' or a 'However' or
a 'Because,' to' cite four other sentence starters one is often warned against) is
not always the strongest beginning for a sentence, and making a relentless habit
of using any of them palls quickly. You may find that you don't need that 'And'
at all. You may find that your 'And'
or 'But' sentence might easily attach to its predecessor sentence
with either a comma or a semicolon." He then adds an additional
comment in a footnote. "As a copy editor, I'm always on my guard
for monotonous repetition, whether it's of a pet word -- all writers have pet words --
or a pet sentence construction. Two sentences in a single paragraph
beginning with the same introductory term, especially 'But,'
are usually one sentence too many." I'll include my own comment,
particularly if you're working for someone who feels strongly about one
of these nonrules as Dreyer calls them. "Just because you can start a sentence with
a conjunction doesn't mean you should." We said way back at the very
beginning of this specialization that writing is about consistently
making good decisions. Sometimes the right decision will
be to start a sentence with "And," "But," "So," or any other of the coordinating
conjunctions. Sometimes it won't. A good way to learn the difference
is to seek out quality writing and to pay special attention to
when this tactic is used. Is it at the beginning of a paragraph? Is it at the end? How long is the sentence that
comes immediately before the one that starts with a conjunction? How about the one that
comes immediately after? And is there another sentence
nearby that begins the same way? Part of the reason for the Good Sentences
assignments each week where you pick your favorite sentence from the piece you've
selected is to give you a chance to see the techniques we've discussed in action. "To write good sentences,"" we said,
"you need to read good sentences." That includes those that begin with "And"
and "But."