After reading in a high school textbook that student writers should
avoid beginning sentences with conjunctions in "formal" writing, I
reached for the two most formal books on my shelf: Sir Randolph
Quirk's "Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language" and Albert
Baugh's "Literary History of England." In the former, a sentence
beginning with "yet" occurs in the second paragraph of the Preface and
a sentence beginning with "but" occurs in the first paragraph of
Chapter One. In Baugh, "nor" introduces a sentence in the first
paragraph of the Preface and "but" introduces a sentence in the first
paragraph of Chapter One.
I couldn't help noticing the subjects of the sentences in Quirk's
Preface: The opening sentence has a long prep phrase and his second
sentence opens with "In 1972," followed by "there," but after that,
his subjects are "this," "these two," this," and "it."
I've done quite a bit of research on sentence openings; it
demonstrates that professional writers vary their sentence openings
very little. About two-thirds of the time, they open with the
subjects of their sentences; about ten percent of the time, they open
with prepositional phrases.
Ed S
On May 16, 2009, at 3:38 PM, Craig Hancock wrote:
> Ed,
> I think one of the reasons FANBOY connectives often start
> sentences is
> that conjunctions like "but" and "so" don't always simply connect two
> clauses, but often signal a shift in meaning that can follow several
> sentences and/or begin many more.
> "She was always friendly. She always smiled. No one could fault her
> everyday politeness. But something about her seemed cold." The "but in
> a sequence like that marks a shift in thinking rather than a
> connection
> to the previous clause.
> This is not just a hypothetical example. It happens very, very
> often in
> the best writing.
> Students come to college thinking they know a few things about
> grammar,
> and one of them is that "You shouldn't start a sentence with...." and
> that list includes "and", "but", "because", sometimes suprising things
> like "I." I don't see any reason for the rule. I would go even
> further--it is a foolish rule and foolish advice.
> I don't believe a single finite clause that starts with "for" is a
> fragment in traditional grammar. A single clause that starts with
> "because" would be. The details would differ, but Zwicky's overall
> point, that the two are not the same, is backed up.
>
> Craig
>
> I agree that it's not a problem for Zwicky's description (which,
>> thanks to Herb, I now have a clearer picture of), but sentences---
>> indeed, paragraphs---beginning with FANBOYS connectives are quite a
>> problem for a great many English teachers, even though as Craig
>> pointed out earlier, college handbooks have never banned the
>> practice. Warriner neither approved nor disapproved, but a recent
>> Warriner clone warns against the practice in "formal writing."
>>
>> Ed
>>
>> On May 14, 2009, at 9:18 PM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:
>>
>>> 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
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> ________________________________________
>>> 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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