More Bunk to Debunk: Don't start sentences with Conjunctions

Is it Wrong to Start a Sentence with And or But?

Few writing “rules” have been drilled into students’ heads as stubbornly, and as incorrectly, as this one:

“Never start a sentence with a conjunction.”

If you grew up in English-speaking schools, chances are you’ve heard it from teachers, red pens, or grammar scolds. The warning has always sounded as if it came from on high, an immutable law handed down from Shakespeare himself.

But here’s the truth: It’s bunk. Complete bunk.

Great writers, from Abraham Lincoln to contemporary journalists, have happily started sentences with and, but, and other conjunctions for centuries. Not only is it allowed, but it’s one of the most natural and effective things you can do to make your writing flow.

What Are Coordinating Conjunctions?

Before debunking the myth, let’s ground ourselves in some grammar. English has seven coordinating conjunctions, often remembered with the acronym BOYFANS:

But, Or, Yet, For, And, Nor, So

These seven words connect words, phrases, and clauses that are grammatically parallel. They can join items in a series (red, white, and blue), or they can join two independent clauses with a comma (like the sentence you’re reading).

Where Did the “No Conjunctions” Rule Come From?

The culprit is not grammar but pedagogy. Faced with children stringing together endless and-then-I-did-this sentences, school teachers invented a “rule” to stop the chatter:

Don’t start a sentence with and.

The rule worked. Little ones stopped stacking conjunctions in their conversations, but unfortunately, they grew up thinking the rule applied to their writing.

Just look at the massive finger-wagging that went on in previous centuries.

• Or never begins a sentence, paragraph, or chapter.—James Brown, The American

  System of English Grammar, 1826

• Teach the elimination of but, so, and, because, at the beginning of a sentence. —Documents of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1916

• A sentence should not commence with the      conjunctions and, for, or however. —George      Payn Quackenbos, An Advanced Course of     Composition and Rhetoric, 1854

  The finger-waggers, alas, stood on shaky grammatical ground. The heavyweights disagreed and held nothing back.

Here’s What the Experts Say

• Henry Fowler, the towering English grammarian, put it plainly in the New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (p. 52):

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.

• Wilson Follett, whose Modern American Usage has graced my bookshelf for decades, debunked the bunk this way:

A prejudice lingers from a bygone time that sentences should not begin with and. The supposed rule is without foundation in grammar, logic, or art. And can join separate sentences and their meanings just as but can both join sentences and disjoin meanings. Follett, p. 27.

• Merriam-Webster.com nailed it:

It's perfectly acceptable to begin a sentence with and (as well as with words such as but or or). Using and at the beginning of a sentence has been a practice for over a thousand years.

Serve this up to any misguided editors who try to outlaw a front-loaded conjunction.

Examples from Great Writers

Our greatest writers start sentences with conjunctions.

• F. Scott Fitzgerald: But I do want you to be happy—and I want you to be good.—Letter to daughter Scottie, August 8, 1933.

• Ernest Hemingway:And the bull who is brave and charges straight is the one who gives the most fun in the ring.—Death in the Afternoon (1932).

• Abraham Lincoln, in the Gettysburg Address: But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground.

• Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes:Courts proceed step by step. And we now have to consider whether the cautious statement in the former case marked the limit of the law.—Johnson v. United States, 228 U.S. 457, 458 (1913).

• Justice Hugo Black: They knew that free speech might be the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.—Hugo Black, The Bill of Rights, 35 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 865, 880-81 (1960).

Examples from the Media

So do writers for leading print media.

• Editorial in The Washington Post: So now it’s spending time, and you guessed it: They’re spending anyway. Nor is it the case . . . that only profligate Democrats are pushing for increases while virtuous Republicans resist. When the Democrats took control of the Senate, Republicans were quick to say that there went fiscal discipline. But in fact they’re both at it; spending is the most bipartisan activity in Washington. And most of the action thus far has been in the Republican House. —Washington Post, June 25, 2001, p. A14.

• Article in The New York Times:  “But you may not realize that writers of ‘informational texts’ — that is, nonfiction with the purpose of informing an audience about a topic — often borrow these same techniques for the same reason: to grab people’s attention.”

• Editorial in The Wall Street Journal: “And I had a vision: I would play in the National Football League. I wrote out my life’s goals on a poster and placed it over my bed.”

What’s the Real Rule About Conjunctions?

The real rule is simple: You may start sentences with conjunctions, provided you use them purposefully. Don’t string them endlessly one after another. Instead, use them for emphasis or contrast. Ensure that what follows is a complete thought unless you are deliberately crafting a fragment for style.

How This Myth Hurts Writers

Believing this myth can damage your writing in several ways.

First, failing to use the word But to start a sentence will stifle natural flow. If the info in the next sentence contrasts with the info you’ve just written, you want to alert the reader to that fact. If the word But is missing from your bag of writing tricks, you’re stuck with using “However + comma” to start the next sentence or “On the other hand” or “In contrast.”

When a good old “But” would jolt your reader and announce the upcoming contrast.

Second, failing to break this so-called rule leads to a reluctance to debunk other bunk. Have mercy on your style if you never use a sentence fragment. Woe be unto your readers if you never split an infinitive. And say goodbye to emphasis and transition if you blindly believe you should never use the passive voice.

And third, you’ll deny yourself one of the best organization-signalling devices if you refuse to start a sentence with And. Above I wrote about damaging your writing in several ways. The “And third” alerted you to the end of the list.  Note: Read the last sentence of the preceding paragraph and see how my frontloaded And tagged the sentence as the last of three showing the consequences of failing to dishonor writing myths.

Learn More: Write Better Right Now

Debunking myths is just the beginning. To write well, you need a framework grounded in grammar, style, and real-world examples. That’s what my 7-hour video course Write Better Right Now provides. It features clear explanations, examples from great writers, and practical techniques you can apply immediately.

You can use this course like a video book or a video resource.

• Want to brush up on strategic use of the passive voice? Then check the table of contents and watch section 6.07 of the course.

• Need a refresher on the differences between that and which? Just click section 8.05 of Write Better Right Now.

• Or want to learn how to get your Flesch Writing Ease number? Click section 7.02(d).

Click here to learn more and enroll.

Key Takeaway: Break the Myth, Write Better

Yes you can start sentences with conjunctions. And you should, when it serves your writing.

The prohibition is pure bunk.

Great writers ignore it.

So can you.