Hey, prescriptivists.
What the deal with "don't start sentences with AND" that I see occasionally from grammar nazis?
Is it US/UK/Canadian/multinational thing?
And what one is supposed to use instead?
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Anonymous2011-03-30 11:16
It's complete bullshit, I forget who started it but it's more or less an arbitrary thing. You can start a sentence with "and" or "because", hell, real and GREAT writers do it. The only people who complain are prescriptivist middle and high school English teachers, who are worthless anyway.
Everyone does it colloquially, and as long as you're not writing your dissertation, it should be fine in writing.
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Anonymous2011-03-30 19:37
This thread make me realize I've never verbalized the start or continuation of a thought with "and" before. I use a lot of semicolons though.
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Anonymous2011-03-30 20:40
>>3
I use a lot of semicolons in writing (at least a lot compared to most people)
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Anonymous2011-03-31 3:06
It must be an international conspiracy, I was taught not to start sentences with "EN" in Dutch.
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Anonymous2011-04-01 18:39
i remember being told this in primary school(UK)
i reckon its just really about getting young kids to use commas, and to be fair there arent many occasions when one does use a sentence starting with and. im sitting here trying to make one up.
all i can think of is using 'and' in a almost synonymous way to 'then'