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

  • From: "John Murphy" <john.murphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 17:43:13 -0700

We follow conventions because it assists us in technical communication.
We wear a suit and tie to certain functions not because it is a rule but
because, by doing so, we convey a certain formality, stability and
dignity to our attendance which opens the door to further forms of
communication. In the same way, we use formal English in technical
documents to relax the viewer, to assure them that the documentation
they are reading will not shock them, confront them or task them. This
is why technical writers are encouraged to be conservative in their use
of English. Their readership is not arty farty or highly literate. Use
of simple, elegant English allows the content to shine through rather
than the personality of the writer. The opposite is often true for
creative writing. And the earth moved. And the sun rose. And most
novelists have fragile egos.

John Murphy
Documentation
Dilithium Networks

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Lewis [mailto:mlewis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]=20
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2003 9:51 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: AND, BUT, or OR as the first word of a sentence


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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