<p>Or should I change the way I word my sentence?</p>
<p>Its your essay - own it.</p>
<p>A friend of mine is a book editor and she says don’t start a sentence with any of the coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS, for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). I had started a sentence with one of them and she thought I should change it. Would however work? You might look for a list of subordinating conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs to vary your sentences.</p>
<p>Interesting thread.</p>
<p>^ But I don’t find it interesting!</p>
<p>It is perfectly grammatical to start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction even in formal contexts.</p>
<p>^Lol.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I’ll see what I can do.</p>
<p>You can start a sentence with conjugations. It just has to be a complete thought.</p>
<p>Students are often taught not to use but at the start of a sentence because it usually ends up not being a complete thought. But what if the sentence is written like this?</p>
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<p>Seconded. Plus, it can add a nice effect if used properly. :)</p>
<p>^ Seconded</p>
<p>I remember in one of the writing courses I took on college, the prof. told us how we can break the “rules” of writing taught to us in high school.</p>
<p>“Rules” of grammar are just ways of using language that the largest group of people within the language agrees on and accepts. As such, they’re not set in stone or all-encompassing. You can “break” these rules as long as what you write makes sense and (as overcore noted) you present a complete thought. And yes, it does add variety (“spice”) to your writing. ;)</p>
<p>It’s a good rule of thumb but I never follow it. The whole point of “rules” in writing is to guide you (if you are a novice writer) to good style, and to be broken when it suppresses your style and voice.</p>
<p>I really like starting sentences with “But…” for a certain dramatic effect (say, rhetorical questions). I do it all the time in English essays. No one calls me on it because it sounds good. If you restructure the sentence but it doesn’t sound as good, as snappy, or as personable, just use “but”.</p>
<p>“Rules are meant to be broken.” It’s true. But only if you understand the logic behind the rule, and you’re consciously breaking it for a good reason.</p>
<p>Greekfire, thanks for putting your period inside those quotes. I like it when people follow that rule.</p>
<p>The Cautionary Punctuation Addendum: the only really permissible time to break these is in poetry. Or emoticons. =)</p>
<p>The best way to put it:
Ask your teacher if you can start a sentence with because and theyll say no, you ask why…they say becuase… And you smile :D</p>
<p>Go ahead it can create nice touch, but, haha dont use it too much. But, they might not care. (bad use of but)</p>
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<p>Agreed. At least in my essays, I find myself writing long, compound sentences. A short sentence beginning with a conjunction can be a nice way to break that up.</p>