In English why must we never start a sentence with AND or BUT? Do you know?

Question

Please be kind and tell me.

Answer 1

because using these words would be related to the previous sentence and therefore should be in the previous sentence. quite hard to explain but if you try to use one of these words it becomes clear why.


look at the sentence above...wouldn't it be stupid to put a full stop after the word "explain" and begin a new sentence with "but" because it all belongs in the same sentence

God that hurt my brain...10 pts. worth of brain power there!!(wink)

Answer 2

Both and & but are conjunctions meant to join concepts in a proper sentence. They are also prepositions meant to modify their subject within the sentence, not at the beginning or finish. This rule has been the standard since the 18th century.

There is a popular school of thought that believes (with some degree of veracity) that the rules of language are unimportant. So what if we begin a sentence with And? So what if start turning nouns into verbs--I like to impact things!

What happens then is the Tower of Babel effect-everyone speaking a different language and no one understanding anyone else, because the structures, forms, and rules of the language have no meaning. It seems a small thing in the daily world, but communication the most important tool humanity has at our disposal to ultimately solve the problems with which we now live.

Answer 3

The "rule"is well-intentioned but mistaken.

Using "and" or "but to begin a sentence is NOT ungrammatical or otherwise incorrect. In fact, you will see it a great deal in print, precisely because there is NOTHING wrong with it.

So why have grade school teachers told us for so long to avoid using "but" or "and" at the beginning of sentences? It may be they did not know any better. Or perhaps they were trying to encourage us to VARY our sentence structure or to avoid the mistakes of misusing or OVERusing such words or of writing sentence fragments.

At any rate MANY guides to usage approve of it, and have for some time. For example:

"There is a persistent belief that it is improper to begin a sentence with And, but this prohibition has been cheerfully ignored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon times onwards. An initial And is a useful aid to writers as the narrative continues."
-from The New Fowler's Modern English Usage
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm

'“In his youth Dostoevsky had been attracted to utopian socialism of the Fourierist variety. But four years in a prison camp in Siberia shook his faith.” As this quotation from J.M. Coetzee shows, the conjunction but can be highly effective as a sentence opener. You may still hear the injunction against beginning a sentence with a conjunction. The idea is that these sentences express “incomplete” thoughts. But a glance through any magazine or newspaper will show you that beginning with but has become common practice, and initial but must be considered acceptable at all levels of style.'
-The American Heritage® Book of English Usage.
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English.
http://bartelby.org/64/C001/017.html

"Contrary to what your high school English teacher told you, there's no reason not to begin a sentence with but or and; in fact, these words often make a sentence more forceful and graceful. They are almost always better than beginning with however or additionally. Beginning with but or and does make your writing less formal; — but worse things could happen to most writing than becoming less formal."
-Lynch Guide to Grammar and Style
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/b.html

Answer 4

The words 'and' and 'but' are conjunctions (nor prepositions) which means that they are used to join two different parts of a sentence together, for example.

We went to the ocean and saw the ships.

So here we did two things. We went to the ocean. We saw the ships. The 'and' joins them together and makes sense of why we went to the ocean or where we saw the ships.

'But' is used to give an explanation or objection or reasoning to something and, again, is used to join two sentences together. For example.

We went to the ocean but the ships had gone.

In this case we had gone to the ocean to see the ships which had gone. This gives an explanation or reason why we had gone there, IE to see the ships. The 'but' explains why we didn't see them, IE they had gone.

To start a sentence with either of these words is grammatically incorrect although there are accepted exceptions.

In Biblical use many sentences start with 'And' such as 'And it came to pass that Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.' This is accepted because the sentence is a continuation of a long standing story which is too long to be told in one sentence.

'But' is often used in speech as an exclamation. For example if someone was told 'You can't go out today, it's raining.' He might reply 'But I can. It's stopped.' Thus he is continuing the speaker's sentence and finishing it for him.

Answer 5

Well, if we're talking about English.... Actual English, then firstly the words used would be grammar and conjunctive.
The words 'And' and 'But', are what you call conjunctive words (connecting words, put simply), they hold sentences together, thus meaning that they can't be used at the beginning of the sentence because grammatically they are supposed to be used during sentence, not at the beginning.

Answer 6

Some people might say that it's wrong to start a sentence with a conjunction, but it's done all the time. I was taught not to start a new paragraph with "and" or "but". Just the same, I see it a lot.

Answer 7

You can start a sentence with any word you want if it makes logical sense. Don't listen to old fogey schoolteachers.

For example:

A. I'd like to go for a walk.
B. But it's three in the morning!

or

A. These chairs would look good in our house.
B. And they're cheap.

Answer 8

And indicates the continuance of a thought, or a grouping of objects, which should be included in one sentence. But also indicates the continuance of a thought and should also be included in one sentence, IMO.

Answer 9

I asked an english student I was seeing at the time and she said it doesnt matter, why not.

so there you have it, she got a 2:1 so she must be right

Answer 10

And and But are connectives, connectives go in the middle of sentences.