As an attorney, nothing points to insecurity more than legalese. As in, “we’re smart – see the $20 dollar words” – heretofore and all that jazz just takes up empty space while saying nothing. “However” instead of “But”? “Nonetheless” instead of “Despite”? Please. No one speaks like that. U write for the reader. Grabbing the reader’s attention requires getting to the point right away – conversationally. No need 4 useless or meaningless words.

What is more, dont write what your gonna say, then repeat it. That’s for oral speaking – listening is harder to absorb than reading. Anyone can “write” a 30-pager paper. Cutting it in half – w/out losing any substance – is the hard part. Some ways to shorten include using present tense, ridding as many “of’s” as possible, and changing words ending in “..ion” to verbs.

Yes, I realize I am a horrible typer. But grammar – in my opinion – doesnt count on the internet, as long as u get the meaning. And to the sticklers on this – one would almost believe u 4got typing requires different motor skills than using a pen. As one not weened on a keyboard, I’ll take a pen any day.

Clearly the author’s example imply a preceding thought.

I asked Bob to the movies.

And Im still awaiting his reply
But Im still awaiting his reply.
However, I am still awaiting his reply.
Although I am still awaiting his reply.
Nevertheless, I am still awaiting his reply.
…

your detractors need to read moby dick.

Stephen on July 14, 2011 4:04 pm
Firstly, starting a sentence with a conjunction was not ‘wrong’ or ‘foreign’ or ‘informal’ to Chaucer, Milton and Shakespeare. It has only been a solecism since tidy-minded Victorians set about placing strictures on the living language of Englishmen, learned and otherwise.

This is completely wrong. Their usage of coordinating conjunctions was, and is, considered acceptable from an artistic standpoint since they are used in conversations and poetic alliteration.

Secondly, when the King summoned the finest scholars in the land to translate the Bible into English, those most-learned gentlemen were happy to represent the Lord their God as beginning his sentences with ‘And’. To protest that the Bible was written thousands of years ago is neither here nor there.

This is also completely wrong. The Bible is a collection of oral stories that were originally structured in poetic form to allow for maximum retention and interest in the listeners. The usage of coordinating conjunctions in The Bible is often used as a perfect example of poetic alliteration for maximum, emotional effect.

Thirdly, we, of necessity, begin spoken sentences with conjunctions day in and out. And quite properly.

Once again, this is the use of coordinating conjunctions for conversational effect.

Fourthly, grammar is about conveying meaning; nothing more and nothing less.

This is true. Unfortunately, if you have no idea how and when to use grammar properly to convey meaning, then you have no interest in conveying your message properly. A perfect example would be how Stephen uses points that duplicate other points because he has no idea what he’s talking about.

I used Stephen to prove my point that there is a strong presence of pseudo-intellectualism on the internet that arrogantly chastises anyone that correctly states the proper use of coordinating conjunctions, and as proof of their claim, the pseudo-intellectuals show that they don’t have a basic grasp of grammar or literature. You can see this belief reinforced in the statements that subjectively starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions is a sign of critical thinking, when in reality, the use of a thesaurus or editing what you have written would be the actual sign of critical thinking.

If you need a guide on starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions so you can feel free to write what you want but without sounding like an aggressive illiterate, just remember the following:

In normal written communication, never start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction. What you have written will read like your brain stopped working in the middle of the sentence, and that instantly tells the reader that you’re a bit slow. Also, and this point is completely ignored by everyone that believes you can start any sentence with a coordinating conjunction, your usage of coordinating conjunctions is completely subjective and your reader may not agree with your usage. This means that if your reader thinks you shouldn’t have started a particular sentence with a coordinating conjunction, regardless of what you think or feel, your sentence is grammatically wrong and the reader thinks you’re poorly educated. There’s no reason to weaken yourself just so you can argue excuses for not trying to write properly.

When it’s acceptable to use coordinating conjunctions:

Pregnant pauses. If you need an example, think of the line: “But the power of the ring could not be undone.”

Conversational. If you’re writing a conversation or in a conversational tone, the rhythm of the communication would seem absolutely bizarre if it was completely grammatically correct because people do not speak in a grammatically correct fashion. Actually, you would sound like an alien posing as a human on your way to Earth Capital.

Poetic Alliteration. If you think of poetry as the pure, emotional conversation of the human soul, then grammatically correct sentences have no logical place except to destroy the flow of passion. Alliteration will reinforce the strength of emotions, create a rhythm to help induce hypnotic states, and reinforce important points.

Poetry is also out of the scope of proper grammatical rules, but it is too frequently abused as an excuse for writing any sentence fragment you want at any time. For example:

“But to be frank, and give it thee again.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”

That’s beautiful writing, but there are plenty of people posing as authorities on the internet that can’t tell the difference between what was written above and business communication.

To put it bluntly to anyone else that still doesn’t believe that randomly starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions is grammatically correct, remember this axiom: Your belief that your subjective usage of starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions does not constitute a universal rule that refutes the actual, defined usage of coordinating conjunctions nor is it accepted as grammatically correct to any other writer or any reader.

My apologies for the long and antagonistic post, but writing has become so lazy in the past 10 years that “writers” can’t be bothered to run a spellchecker on their articles before or after posting them online to the AP, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and a few others I read recently. Just stop coming up with excuses for being lazy, and stop trying to pose as being educated or dynamic because if you hold your writing standards to the same level as a functional illiterate, you will write like a functional illiterate.