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

  • From: "Michael Lewis" <mlewis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 09:50:40 +1000

Brian Clarke:

> Let's get a bit of quality in here."
>
> And so should we.

Indeed. Adherence to unjustified "rules" like "Thou shalt not begin a
sentence with And, or But, or So" is no way to guarantee (or even encourage)
quality.

Unlike the equally unsupportable "rules" about not "splitting the
'infinitive'" and not "ending a sentence with a preposition", this one is
not based on a false application of Latin grammar to a non-Latin language.
Rather, it is based on a legitimate distinction between conjunctions (and,
but, so) and conjunctive adverbs (moreover, however, therefore). But --
despite the misquotation of the "rule" in the subject line of this thread --
nobody seems to extend the rule to prohibit "or" at the start of a sentence;
that's just as much a conjunction as the others, and "alternatively" is an
equivalent conjunctive adverb. And it's increasingly common to use "however"
as a conjunction in place of "but".

There's nothing in the structure of English to warrant this "rule". It's
simply a stylistic convention that has acquired the force of a rule by
virtue of incessant repetition. So there's absolutely no reason to follow
it. We should focus on clear expression of meaning, rather than bowing
before ancient shibboleths.

Michael Lewis

--------------------------------------
Brandle Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia
http://www.brandle.com.au
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