I don't think a for-initial fragment where "for" means "because" would be a problem for Zwicky's description, precisely because it's a fragment and so would be interpretable as being the second of two clauses, the first being ellipted.
Herb
Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
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________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Edgar Schuster [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: May 14, 2009 2:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Equivalent expressions
Ah, I suppose Arnold and I are talking about two different things.
Let me give an example from Oates of what I am talking about, an
example that has many interesting features---fragments especially---
besides the initial "for," which starts not only a sentence but also a
new paragraph.
The "Weidel house," it would be called for years. The Weidel
property." As if the very land---which the family had not owned in
any case, but only rented, partly with county-welfare support---were
somehow imprinted with that name, a man's identity. Or infamy.
For tales were told of the father who drank, beat and terrorized his
family . . . .
Ed
On May 14, 2009, at 2:02 PM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:
> Ed,
>
> I assume you mean the coordinate clause introduced by "for" comes
> before the clause that it's coordinate with. I don't have a copy of
> Oates and Atwan. You might send these examples to Arnold. He would
> find them interesting.
>
> Herb
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]
> ] On Behalf Of Edgar Schuster
> Sent: 2009-05-14 12:42
> 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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