Since I was in the first grade, my teachers have been telling me never to start sentences with "And" & "But."
For the most part, I have been following that rule ever since. But--err I mean "However," I cannot help but feel like that rule has hindered me from expressing myself more eloquently and poetically in my papers and essays.
Many times I have looked at a sentence I wrote on a paper and went, "Man the sounds really good to me, but I know my professor's going to mark me for starting it with 'And', so I better use more lame words like 'furthermore,' or 'in addition,'"
Who exactly thought of forbidding students from starting their sentences with "And" and "But," and why?
And (AND) are we gradually moving away from that archaic rule of writing?
2007-03-13 19:55:53 · 13 answers · asked by Roland 4 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I'm well aware of that rule.
But I still break it all the time.
And I dont care :-)
2007-03-13 20:05:53 · answer #1 · answered by kitty98 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"and" and "but" are words that connect two seperate thoughts. "and" shows a similar connection between the two, and "but" shows differences between the two ideas.
to correctly show the similarities or differences, they should be part of one sentence. the second paragraph you wrote could be re-written as "for the most part, i have been following that rule ever since, but i cannot help but feel like that rule has hindered me from expressing myself more eloquently and poetically in my papers and essays."
there you go, one complete thought. if you start with "and" or "but" the thought is incomplete, you only get the last half of it.
2007-03-13 20:48:13 · answer #2 · answered by Tom B 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is actually a very big misconception. It is incorrect that you can't start sentences in this way. But, it is very easy to make sentences that either don't have a subject or a predicate if you choose to start with an and or a but. So, elementary school teachers decided to lie to us and tell us that it is not allowed so we don't make the mistake of writing fragments instead of complete sentences. Just be careful that when you do decide to use one of these words to start a sentence that you are extra careful to make a complete sentence.
2007-03-13 20:01:52 · answer #3 · answered by brandon 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
"And" and "but" are conjunctions. They are used to join two sentences. Thus, the only context in which they are supposed to be used is between two clauses. "I went to the store, and then I went home." "I tried to buy some eggs, but they were all cracked."
If you leave out the first clause, it becomes an incomplete sentence.
I think we move away from that rule once we get to higher levels of English. After a while, we start to use them as adverbs rather than conjunctions, even though they are technically still conjunctions.
2007-03-13 20:02:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Besides being the rule, for me begining a sentence with "and" or "but" wouldn't make sense.
If I wrote....And then I'll be home. It leaves a question in your mind, what are you going to do first. Or this sentence "But, it won't be until Tuesday".
See, the sentences are not complete leave questions in your mind about what content should have preceded it.
I don't think I explained this well, but gave it a shot for you.
2007-03-13 20:28:20 · answer #5 · answered by ginger 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The words "but" and "and" are conjuctions. They bridge two ideas together by coming between them. They can't come between two ideas in a sentence if they start the sentence. In cases where you want to place one of those words at the beginning of a sentence, consider using a comma in front of them instead of a period and see how it sounds. If that doesn't work, you are using too passive of voice in your writing.
2007-03-13 20:02:34 · answer #6 · answered by firerookie 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your last sentence doesn't need the 'and'
"Are we gradually..."? is better.
Any sentence requiring 'but', is a follow on thought and there would be a comma before the but.
Not as you have done in the second paragraph of your question.
2007-03-13 20:07:35 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
because it makes no sense its like picking up a sentence from between and putting it there but in casual speaking we may do these sort of things
2007-03-13 20:00:07 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
'And' and 'But' are conjunctions that connect two sentences...so to start a new sentence with those conjunctions is grammatically incorrect. 'But', I think they should be allowed and I use them in my informal writing
2007-03-13 20:07:25 · answer #9 · answered by immaculately flawed 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I....(start to say next word but can't because you projectile vomit on the judge)
2016-03-28 22:38:27 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋