If you’re someone who uses the Microsoft Word grammar checker you may have noticed that if you start a sentence with and or but, you get a little green squiggly line under the and or but. But is there really something wrong with starting a sentence that way?
When I ask students about the rules they’ve learned in high school about how to write well, they will almost always tell me that they learned: “Do not start a sentence with and or but.” And I feel quite sure that this was drilled into me when I was in grade school, as well.
The fact is that if you look in any reputable style guide you’re not going to find this rule. It is, in fact, a myth or, as H.W. Fowler called it, a superstition. If it’s addressed in the style guide they generally say that this is a myth circulated by English teachers and that people seem to feel very strongly that it is something they should not do. The Merriam Webster Dictionary of English Usage notes that the idea you shouldn’t start a sentence with and or but may go back to efforts by teachers to make sure their students are not stringing together sentences or clauses with lots and lots of ands.
The Microsoft Word grammar checker will tell you it’s an issue of formality. If you want to write in very formal prose, don’t start a sentence with and or but. Of course if you look at published, formal prose, you will see lots of sentences that start with and or but.
My advice? If you’re going to use and or but at the beginning of a sentence, use it sparingly.
And if you’re starting paragraphs with and or but, you might want to think about that, because you are sending a mixed message. A new paragraph says, “This is a new idea.” The and or but says, “This follows directly on what I was just saying.”
I’m here to tell you, as an English professor, as a linguist, and as a copy editor, it is a myth that you cannot start a sentence with and or but. And you are welcome to do so if it helps your prose.
This video originally appeared in LSA Today, where you can find more videos, including an archive of Anne Curzan’s discussions of language.
