Bruce, Ed,
   I don't think "for" in sentence initial position would create a
sentence fragment in traditional grammar since it is thought of as
coordinating rather than subordinating. In that sense, it acts like
"and", "but", "or", "nor", "so", and "yet", which often occur sentence
initially without being "errors".
   When some of these occur sentence initially, I believe there is a
constraint against a results type clause following.
   "*For he's a jolly good fellow, we welcomed him."  As opposed to plain
old "For he's a jolly good fellow" or "Because he's a jolly good
fellow, we welcomed him." Even "but" is constrained that way. It can't
set up a contradicting clause to a clause that follows. "*But we liked
him, he was sometimes grumpy." Compare "Although we liked him, he was
sometimes grumpy."
   One reason for coordinating conjunctions in sentence opening slot is
that they often conjunct more than a single sentence.  Since the clause
they introduce doesn't have a grammatical role in another clause, they
maintain a grammatical independence. Another argument for accepting it,
of course, is the one Ed makes; many of our best writers do it all the
time, to great effect.

Craig>

 The same thing might be said of sentence fragments in general.  Sometimes
> the assumptions of constructionists get in the way of the conclusions.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Edgar Schuster
> Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 10:42 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Equivalent expressions
>
> Herb,
>     I read the Zwicky article, and thanks for it, but I am puzzled by his
> stance that "for" cannot be used sentence initially.  (I hope I
> haven't misunderstood what he is saying.)  Joyce Carol Oates uses
> "for" initially six times in her 1995 essay, "They All Just Went
> Away."  Susan Sontag uses the same word initially five times in her
> "Notes on 'Camp'."
>     And this is not a new phenomenon.  In "The Handicapped" (1911) "for"
> is used by Randolph Bourne in sentence initial position 16 times, I
> believe.  It's also used, though much more rarely, by several other
> writers.
>     (All these essays may be found in "The Best American Essays of the
> Century" by Oates and Atwan.)
>
> Ed S
>
> On May 14, 2009, at 11:58 AM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:
>
>> English has a lot of equivalent expressions that attract the
>> attention of writing teachers and grammarians.  Consider because/
>> for, however/but, which/that, much/a lot, and others you can
>> probably come up with yourself.  Here's a link
>> (http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/forbecause/
>> ) to an extraordinarily lucid and insightful posting on the topic by
>> that extraordinarily lucid and insightful grammarian Arnold Zwicky.
>> Follow the internal links, and you'll see a subtle, perceptive, and
>> witty mind at work.
>>
>> Enjoy!
>>
>> Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
>> Emeritus Professor of English
>> Ball State University
>> Muncie, IN  47306
>> [log in to unmask]
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