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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