No Ands or Buts About It

I have a pet peeve – I get very annoyed when people start a sentence with a conjunction. In a world filled with many serious issues and pressing problems, conjunctions may not seem to matter, but they have important functions in sentences. They are meant to join words, clauses, or sentences but should never be used to start a sentence.

Teaching introductory English classes at the college level, I have seen the many different ways people can mangle our language over the years. Sometimes it is carelessness to the point of absurdity; other times it is obvious that they have had insufficient preparation in their previous twelve years of schooling, and it breaks my heart. No matter the reason why a student commits this sacrilege of misusing the language, I have been more or less lenient in taking off points for this transgression; furthermore, I have faced the grim task of trying undo what has or hasn’t been done with these students: no easy task I can assure you.

In my current role as an editor at Blogcritics Magazine, I have found great pleasure in being exposed to some fantastic articles by writers in many different genres. I am so fortunate to have this opportunity because I am reading about so many things on so many levels that I would never have been able to do before. Over all, this has been an extraordinarily positive experience.

I do notice one thing lately that is bothersome. A number of writers are starting sentences with conjunctions. “But” and “And” are the most often used, and it is happening with such frequency that I am wondering why. I did encounter this once a number of years ago in a freshman class, and upon researching things, I discovered that many of the students had the same English teacher in high school. The perpetrator had been found in that case, but what is happening here and now?

While I have seen this done even in print and online magazines, it still bothers me a great deal. I guess I can’t accept the idea of starting a sentence with a conjunction because it is a “conjunction” that is supposed to connect something. The good sisters of no grammar mercy in my Catholic school really hammered home many lessons, and this is one of them: You never start a sentence with a conjunction!

I know technically that it is not improper to start a sentence with one of the seven: and, but, or, yet, for, nor, so. Still, every time I see it done, it drives me bonkers.

And I will feel better if I just let this go. Or maybe I never will. Yet now I think I understand. For I know it’s a far, far better thing not to worry about. Nor should I care anymore. But I know that I do. So there, I said it!