Starting a sentence with AND or BUT

Arpa · 09-02-2011 6:24pm #1

It was beaten into me at some early stage in school, that it was horrid to begin a sentence with 'And' or 'But'.

I have found it has had an effect on my writing, that I will constantly search for other sentence openings such as: Still, Now, Further....etc.

In some way it has forced me to pay more attention to sentence construction and flow as I have to consider the opening of each sentence carefully, but in other instances I find it a hindrance.

I have seen both being used as sentence openers in literary giants such as, Dickens, Forster, Joyce...the list goes on.

So why? Was I the only one taught this in school? Is it a more recent thing? Is there a rule I'm missing?

And moreover, I actually don't like the look of the word 'And' at the beginning of a sentence, it seems to over-ride the full stop.

But interestingly, I can suffer 'But' in various situations.

Thoughts people?

Patricide · 09-02-2011 6:33pm

Also had this beaten into me at school. AFAIK if you use "and" to start a new clause in a sentence, you must by default have a comma before it, otherwise would you not be creating a sentence fragment rather than a whole sentence no?

I could be totally wrong and of course. I left university English not once, but twice.

EileenG · 09-02-2011 8:55pm

I honestly think it depends on the writer. Some are brilliant at flowing narrative with lots of "and" and "but" while others just look silly doing it.

I tend to use them at lot myself, for instance when I'm posting on Boards, but I generally try to weed them out of my stories.

davyjose · 09-02-2011 9:06pm

Depends on the style and the context, like anything else.

I think you don't want to start every, or even many, sentences with "and" or "but", but ruling it out is silly.

How can someone else anticipate what you want to say? And make a rule for it?

Setun · 09-02-2011 10:08pm

As said above - if we constantly adhered to such "rules" we wouldn't have such a wealth of progressive and unique writers. If it feels right, do it

Humans eh! · 09-02-2011 10:43pm

And now for something, completely different.
But seriously, I don't seem to mind it at all.

:pac:

peckerhead · 10-02-2011 9:18am

It's not as bad as ending a sentence with a preposition.

That's something up with which I will not put.

"And moreover" is a redundancy, though. You wouldn't say "But however", would you?

Arpa · 10-02-2011 10:30am

I have to admit that in normal conversation there will be many an occassion in which I will end a sentence with a preposition. I think it is so engrained in modern language, it's hard to avoid.

Yes, 'and moreover' is a redundancy, got me there. Well spotted. Interestingly though 'and moreover' seems to have more weight than 'and' or 'moreover' on their own. In that case is that acceptable? Probably not, but it sounds more haughty for some reason. Basically what I'm trying to say is, where is the rule book?

Stephen Fry takes an interesting view on it all, saying that he welcomes the developmental progression of language over time. I'm not sure I wholly agree with him. Where does it stop? Does it continue until all grammar, syntax and spelling get thrown out of the window? I think these little rules help keep the language in check somewhat. Otherwise we might soon see entire novels written in sms text. dya knw wot im gtn @?:eek:

smcgiff · 10-02-2011 1:29pm

Of course when writing dialogue everything and anything is acceptable.

It's different with narrative, and again it depends on the "voice" of the narrative. Some narrative that's written in the first person would allow the use of And at the start of a sentence or even a But.

'And' at the start of a sentence can be arresting, so I'd say it's not a good idea to think, 'These can never be used.'

EileenG · 10-02-2011 2:19pm

Arpa wrote: »

I have to admit that in normal conversation there will be many an occassion in which I will end a sentence with a preposition. I think it is so engrained in modern language, it's hard to avoid.

She switched the computer on.

She switched on the computer just doesn't sound right.

pickarooney · 11-02-2011 10:13am

There's always been a legitimate use for 'But' at the start of a sentence and our primary school teacher was careful to point it out: "But for the presence of Georgina, our day would have been utterly ruined."

And, on the other hand, while not syntactically perfect, has a place in modern writing. When used in a particular way it's an effective way of cold-clocking the reader.

Mr. Presentable · 11-02-2011 10:23am

And, However, But, are all conjuctives, i.e. they connect something to something else, like two ideas.

When used at the beginning of a sentence they make no sense because there is no connection between the next idea and a prior one.

That some writers have used conjunctives at the beginning of a sentence is a reflection of style and to show that the breaking of the rule can be interesting.

In the example "But for..." the conjunction is still linking two ideas, and is acceptable through common usage, which is the ultimate arbiter of what is correct. The scary part in common usage is that it will become proper to say "I seen", "I done" "The kid done good" etc

captain 26 · 14-02-2011 10:57pm

I knew a man who used to say "I'd rather a man say he seen something when he saw something than a man say he saw something when he aint seen nothin'! How's that for making words work for you!:)

jackthelad321 · 16-02-2011 1:37pm

I've found as soon as you learn and internalise these 'rules', that's when you realise that no rule is inflexible. If you are writing an academic paper about moths, or anything academic like that, you should probably adhere to many of those rules (like those mentioned above) as they are more appropriate. In prose or story writing effectiveness may dictate what is used. I have actually recently came across a respected American professor who truly believes in long, expressive sentences, which is opposed to many writing teachers who always advise to keep everything short or fairly short (15-25 words). The professors detailed explanations make perfect sense.

I do believe that an aspiring writer should take pains to read the established rules of writing. And then decide if they want to break them. I have always said you need to know the rule beofer you break it. It also makes you realise that no practice is unbreakable if the writing is strong enough.

claire h · 20-02-2011 8:34pm

jackthelad321 wrote: »

I've found as soon as you learn and internalise these 'rules', that's when you realise that no rule is inflexible. If you are writing an academic paper about moths, or anything academic like that, you should probably adhere to many of those rules (like those mentioned above) as they are more appropriate. In prose or story writing effectiveness may dictate what is used.

Yup, absolutely. Most of the guidelines given in schools refer to formal writing rather than creative writing.

Starting a sentence with AND or BUT

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