Ah Nicky, my friend. Here, at last, we must part ways of the mind! While in today's view it is considered "acceptable" to use a conjunction to begin a sentence, grammatically it is NOT encouraged. Beginning a sentence with a conjunction tends to lead to one of two things; run-on sentences or short, choppy ones. It is also terribly informal. Now, if your intent is to address an issue with informality, it is acceptable and has reached the point where it is very prevalent in today's writing. The old adage, "Know thy audience" applies in this case.
In the 1600-1700's, it was perfectly acceptable to use a conjunction to begin a sentence. As language developed and people became more aware of education, vocabulary and social status, the use of conjunctions to start sentences was thought to be poor grammar and a lack of proper education. It was also believed that English was inferior to Latin and should be changed. This lead to certain "rules" that really are not necessarily rules at all, but more like positions of thought. While it was noble, in thinking, to adapt to a more "Latin based" form of language, English is actually a decendant of German and so many of the "rules" simply do not "fit" in a technical sense.
The same holds for ending a sentence with a preposition, although that one is far more important in MY mind!! Many times, words thought to be "prepositions" are really an adverbial particle (part of the verb) and, therefore, not really prepositions at all. Verbs can retain much , if not all, of their properties when used in certain contexts.
OK then! I have made my statement on the matter. What is acceptable and what is proper are far different things, depending on whom it is to which you are speaking.....HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Show/Hide Quoted Message] (Quoting Message by Nicky007 from Wednesday, February 10, 2010 10:41:59 AM) | | Nicky007 wrote: | | Jeg ka også bidrage med lidt dansk til denne flersprogede fest.
Joe, very thoughtful and moving post you wrote there for us. Thanx ! Thinking of you and your close ones, and wishing you the very best
And Guido, yes, one can fully standardly start a sentence with "and" :
7. |
(used to introduce a sentence, implying continuation) also; then: And then it happened. |
- Dictionary.com
So that sort of wraps it up for the moment as far as my concerns are concerned
Nicky. |
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