Re: Re: Can we start a sentence with "or" or "and" in a manual

[Mitchell Maltenfort <mmalten -at- gmail -dot- com>]

ORdinarily, beginning a sentence with a conjunction is a mistake.

BUTtressing this argument is the example from general use.




On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 12:39 PM, Michelle Despres
<michelle -dot- despres -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> >From CMOS:
>
> There is a widespread belief—one with no historical or grammatical
> foundation—that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such
> as *and*, *but*, or *so*. In fact, a substantial percentage (often as many
> as 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with
> conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative
> grammarians have followed this practice. Charles Allen Lloyd’s 1938 words
> fairly sum up the situation as it stands even today: “Next to the groundless
> notion that it is incorrect to end an English sentence with a preposition,
> perhaps the most wide-spread of the many false beliefs about the use of our
> language is the equally groundless notion that it is incorrect to begin one
> with ‘but’ or ‘and.’ As in the case of the superstition about the
> prepositional ending, no textbook supports it, but apparently about half of
> our teachers of English go out of their way to handicap their pupils by
> inculcating it. One cannot help wondering whether those who teach such a
> monstrous doctrine ever read any English themselves." Still, *but* as an
> adversative conjunction can occasionally be unclear at the beginning of a
> sentence. Evaluate the contrasting force of the *but* in question and see
> whether the needed word is really *and*; if *and* can be substituted, then *
> but* is almost certainly the wrong word. Consider this example: *He went to
> school this morning. But he left his lunchbox on the kitchen table*. Between
> those sentences is an elliptical idea, since the two actions are in no way
> contradictory. What is implied is something like this: *He went to school,
> intending to have lunch there, but he left his lunch behind*. Because
> *and*would have made sense in the passage as originally stated,
> *but* is not the right word. To sum up, then, *but* is a perfectly proper
> way to open a sentence, but only if the idea it introduces truly contrasts
> with what precedes. For that matter, *but* is often an effective way of
> introducing a paragraph that develops an idea contrary to the one preceding
> it.
>
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 6:59 AM, Nancy Allison <maker -at- verizon -dot- net> wrote:
>
>> Or [heh, heh] how about starting a sentence ANYWHERE in ANY DOCUMENT with
>> "Fact is" -- the catchy phrase beloved of knucklehead editors everywhere.
>>
>> Fact is, I HATE it.
>>
>> Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread, but it's almost Friday . . .
>>
>> --Nancy
>>
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
>> build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
>> Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
>> http://www.doctohelp.com/
>>
>> Help and Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. Full support for
>> team authoring with multi-user editing - both directly and in combination
>> with VSS-compatible source control systems. http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>>
>> ---
>> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as michelle -dot- despres -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
>>
>> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> or visit
>> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/michelle.despres%40gmail.com
>>
>>
>> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>>
>> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
>> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>>
>> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
>> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>>
>>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
> build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
> Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
> http://www.doctohelp.com/
>
> Help and Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. Full support for
> team authoring with multi-user editing - both directly and in combination
> with VSS-compatible source control systems. http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as mmalten -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/mmalten%40gmail.com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author, 
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/ 

Help and Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. Full support for 
team authoring with multi-user editing - both directly and in combination
with VSS-compatible source control systems. http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat