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] >> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web >> interface at: >> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html >> and select "Join or leave the list" >> >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/