atw: Re: AND, BUT, or OR as the first word of a sentence

Hi Paul,

"And", "but" and "or" are all conjunctions so strictly speaking they should
be used to join sentences not begin them (at least that's the rule I've
heard). Despite this it feels quite natural to start sentences with "and"
and "but" in certain situations but I cannot imagine when you'd feel
inclined to use "or" to begin a sentence.

I don't think this will help you but I think it's interesting. In a course I
did on logic and language my lecturer mused on the possibility of a novel
beginning with "and" and "but". He said he could imagine a novel beginning
with "and" but not "but". A few weeks later I picked up a novel in a
bookshop whose first word was "but" and then when I mentioned it to a friend
she told me that "The Aunt's Story" by Patrick White also began with "but".

Regards,
Petra

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul RETI" <preti@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 8:11 PM
Subject: atw: AND, BUT, or OR as the first word of a sentence


> Dear all
>
> This has been covered here before.   And so, apologies...
>
> Conventional wisdom was that
>   thou must not begin a sentence with _and_, _or_, and _but_.
>
> I need some guidance and also some authoritative references for
> whether and when it's OK now to use them as the first word of
> a sentence in a:
>
> 1)  technical document
> 2)  casual communication
> 3)  formal non-technical writing
>
> Thanks...
>    Paul RETI
>    Sydney Australia
>
>
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