Is anyome willing to read my college essays? I already submitted mine, but I am just freaking out that I made so many mistakes. I want to hear some feedbacks!
You should not even start with and the beginning of an sentence. But if u must then yes start without a comma
Generally, no. Only start a sentence with “and” for purposes of special emphasis or dramatic effect, but keep those exceptions sparse.
If it’s not overused and it doesn’t sound awkward, an essay reader won’t care about starting a sentence with and or but. The same goes for ending a sentence with a preposition. Those minor grammatical rules are really just guidelines.
I actually think sentences with an “and” at the start and then a comma after it sound more awkward than other sentences beginning with “and.”
It’s not ungrammatical, although there’s probably a better way to write the sentence. You shouldn’t use a comma.
Nope. Almost never works. There’s almost always a better way to phrase it
It’s still technically incorrect to start a sentence with a preposition, and I’d avoid it in the most formal writing, but it’s become accepted in most circumstances. Never use a comma after it.
It is not incorrect to start a sentence with “and” but it should not be followed by a comma.
The majority of usage experts agree that it is perfectly fine to begin a sentence with “and” in any context. Among these is Bryan Garner, author of *Modern American Usage/i He writes, “It is rank superstition that this coordinating conjunction cannot properly begin a sentence.” He adds, "Schoolteachers may have laid down a prohibition against the initial and to counteract elementary-school students’ tendency to begin every sentence with and." FWIW, Garner is generally considered a conservative when it comes to usage.
As to the comma, there wrong kinds and right kinds. In my experience, the wrong kind emerge from poorly-remembered rules. E.g., “I know I’ve seen commas in the vicinity of ‘and’; obviously it can’t come before the beginning of a sentence, so it must follow the ‘and.’”
Commas are appropriate if the initial ‘and’ is not immediately followed by the subject of the sentence, especially when the intervening material is more than a few words. Consider: “And, though he never would have admitted it to his wife, Wilson frequently imagined himself playing the harmonica.”
@WasatchWriter : I agree, but that’s a clause issue rather than an initial “and” issue. 
Sure, but look at Post 6, which uses the word “never.” I’d hate for some kid to take that literally.
Good point.
Fair enough.
I think, though, I’d want to avoid the initial “and” in your example - I’d rather use “However” or something like that; I feel the “and” looks a little inelegant, but that’s a style issue rather than pure grammar. One sees far worse things - like “unique” used to mean something which turns out to be only slightly unusual.
LOL. You can’t know that “however” would be better than “and” in this example because I didn’t write the preceding sentence.
Ha ha. That would make a great SAT question: Write [or which is] the best sentence to precede this one: …
True 