I was at a wedding last weekend, and the best man’s speech reminded me of something: I haven’t been really drunk for a while. Sure, I have a couple of glasses of wine here and a gin and tonic there, but it has been a long time since I was in the best man’s state of inebriation: stumbling, glassy-eyed, repeating myself, professing my love to everyone.College, of course, was a different story: I downed bottles of Boone’s Strawberry Hill, vomited out car windows, and...actually, I’ll just keep that story to myself. I guess we all go a little crazy at first with our newfound freedoms, but then after one too many hangovers, we learn to embrace hydration and moderation.
I am actually still in the process of learning moderation with one newfound freedom: the ability to start a sentence with and or but. I always thought it was a grammar no-no to start a sentence with and or but, but I’ve been reading up on this stuff, and apparently it’s just another urban legend.
According to this article, starting a sentence with and or but can be useful for the following reasons:
• It maintains an easy, conversational style.
• It preserves a link between sentences, whilst still delivering in a short, punchy vein.
• It reduces the need for long, wordy compound sentences.
As soon as I heard this, I went a little crazy with it. It might not seem that way to you as you read this, but that’s because Emily proofreads this and makes me delete most of them.
My liver wishes it could have had Emily around to delete some of my past excesses.
References:
http://languagestyle.suite101.com/article.cfm/grammar_starting_a_sentence_with_or_and_or_but
http://languagestyle.suite101.com/article.cfm/grammar_starting_a_sentence_with_or_and_or_but
7 comments:
Yay! I've always allowed a sprinkling of sentences starting with and or but, and it's great to hear vindication! But, I agree it's the sort of sentence structure that should be used in moderation.
Go ahead, get crazy (again!)
I love the Tara Reid photo here...it is her, isn't it? It gives that exact vibe that you have described so well! Ah, ode to the college days!
Glad to hear about this little rule and agree with Nicole, everything in moderation! :-)
Fun and funny as usual. I've been enjoying starting sentences with And and But for years. (I don't know how to italicize w/in comments. So, sorry for that grammar eyesore.)
Very funny post and how suitable is that picture of Tara Reid?? :P
Oh my Lord. Boone's Strawberry Hill brings back some very, very bad memories. *shudders*
Boone’s Strawberry Hill... oh the memories, hehe.
Excellent photo of Tara Reid, extremely fitting for this post... planned? I think so... lol
Good to know that rules aren't always followed to a T.
Perfect picture, although a few of Lindsay Lohan may have worked too.
The And thing was hard for me at first. The But was easier.
Hmmm... I wonder what story you're not telling us.
My word verification is "wineran"!
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