Beginning sentences with conjunctions | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy Video Lecture | Complete Course on English Grammar: Upgrade your Speaking & Listening - Personal Skills

hey grammarians some of you may have
been raised like me with the
superstition that it wasn't okay to
start a sentence with the conjunction
like four or and or nor or or but but
I'm here to tell you not to bury the
lead totally fine like it you you may do
this there is nothing ungrammatical
about this construction let me show you
what I mean and and what sort of
sentences have historically been
regarded by some people as unacceptable
so let's let's start by looking at this
two sentence paragraph Ginny looked at
the painting suspiciously but as she
turned away she didn't see it look at
her or just starting something on its
own without without connecting it to you
know you can start a paragraph with it
like but the question remains what is
art there's this there's this
superstition that says that you can't
begin sentences with conjunctions that
it's ungrammatical or weak writing and I
don't think either of these things are
true in fact I think this is a
conflation or a confusion of a couple
separate issues in writing but sometimes
you want to punctuate a sentence by
beginning with the conjunction there's a
kind of dramatic tension you can access
by beginning a sentence like that kind
of expectedly leaping into action what I
like about sentence initial but here is
that it kind of you think the sentence
is over and it is but then this other
thing happens and and and putting it
after a piece of terminal punctuation
like a period really serves to bring
into sharp relief whatever it is you're
trying to say
after the button I think this is an
awfully useful technique and I'm not
alone
Brian garner the the author of the the
usage manual that I use most of the time
Garner's modern American usage he says
that about nine percent of sentences by
what he calls first-rate writers begin
with and button so or other words in in
the fanboys mnemonic if you remember
fanboys that's for and nor but or yet so
none those are the the coordinating
conjunctions
it's not just garner because that's a
relatively recent publication but we're
talking about language authorities going
back to like anglo-saxon times have
never had a problem with starting
sentences with conjunctions I think
where the prohibition has traditionally
come from where this super this language
superstition comes from is a conflation
with another problem let's get to that
on the next screen all right consider
the following utterance because I said
so
is this a sentence no actually this is
what's called a sentence fragment
because I said so is a dependent clause
it can't stand on its own and a sentence
because is what we call a subordinating
conjunction so dependent clauses follow
subordinating conjunctions which means
that they they grant context but they
can't stand on their own as sentences if
you remember the analogy I used
previously an independent clause you
know is like a tree and a subordinating
conjunction marking a dependent clause
is like a ladder leaning up against that
tree you can have the tree without the
ladder but without the tree to lean on
the ladder is not going to stand up now
it's totally fine to begin a sentence
with because as long as it's attached to
an independent clause so you know you
could say because I told them to comma
the goblins built me a sandcastle very
nice so the little goblins do that so I
think because of that fear of just
ending the sentence as because I told
them to of creating the sentence
fragment I I think it's pretty easy to
simplify all that down into just saying
oh don't start sentences with
conjunctions just generally so this is
really less about how you start an
utterance and more about how you end it
if you're going to start a sentence with
a conjunction of any kind you have to
make sure that you're actually producing
a sentence so think about your
follow-through is ultimately the the
takeaway here if you start a sentence
with a conjunction make sure you're
building towards some kind of
independent clause now don't get me
wrong
sentence fragments definitely have their
place but not in formal writing you
would use this maybe for rhetorical
effect or to approach a kind of realism
in dialog but not not in essay writing
right not for the newspaper I just I
just want to repeat there's not there's
not really a rule against beginning
sentences with conjunctions it's a
superstition frankly and in practice the
rule is generally ignored so I read this
paper from like 1994 or so that analyzed
the frequency of the word but in
newspapers and found that 60 percent of
the time it was used at the beginnings
of sentences which is way more often
then certainly I expected but it makes
sense for that medium it's punchy it's
dramatic but yeah it gets a little stale
if you use it too often I think but
again you can absolutely begin sentences
with conjunctions it's just that if you
start a sentence with a conjunction you
have to follow through and actually make
it a sentence if you begin a sentence
with a subordinating conjunction you're
writing a dependent clause that needs to
be followed up by an independent clause
right so if you're beginning with a
subordinating clause you're making the
latter and you need to follow it up with
a tree but lean on but if you begin a
sentence with a coordinating conjunction
like one of the fanboys conjunctions
knew you're in good shape just try not
to overuse it as you avoid overusing
anything moderation and all things so
take away write full sentences and put
your best butt forward you can learn
anything Dave it out