And/begin a sentence

And/begin a sentence
Message from clint01 posted on 22-09-2014 at 19:10:12 (D | E | F)
Hello,
I usually do not begin my sentences with an AND. Could you please tell me when we are allowed to begin a sentence with an and?
Thank you for any help.

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Edited by lucile83 on 22-09-2014 21:01

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Re: And/begin a sentence from melmoth, posted on 22-09-2014 at 22:42:42 (D | E)
Hello,
By virtue of freedom of speech, and in the absence of an Academie Anglaise, everybody is allowed to begin a sentence with 'And'. It indicates, with emphasis, that the sentence adds something to what the previous sentence said. Cheers.

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Re: And/begin a sentence from sherry48, posted on 23-09-2014 at 03:49:25 (D | E)
Hello.
The more formal the writing, the more likely I am to avoid it. But this site makes a sensible argument. Link

Regards,
Sherry

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Re: And/begin a sentence from clint01, posted on 23-09-2014 at 05:14:06 (D | E)
Hello,
Thank you for your comment, Melmoth. But I meant in formal and academic writings.
Thank you for the link, Sherry.

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Re: And/begin a sentence from melmoth, posted on 23-09-2014 at 08:39:02 (D | E)
Hello,
Beginning a sentence with 'And' produces the impression that the new idea is being introduced as an afterthought. Blablabla. And, now that I think of it, blablabla. So, in speech it is quite natural, as you can't be expected to think of everything all at once, the ideas form in one's mind one after the other,
and you can't regulate the duration of pauses by law. In a prepared speech, inasmuch as you are not supposed to improvise, it may sound artificial, or it may convey liveliness or spontaneousness to the speech. The same holds in writing. It is essentially a matter of style and personal taste. I've heard quite a lot of conferences and read lots of scientific articles and I can assure you that in academic circles, a high level of formality is not the rule. A good conference speech is one which doesn't put you to sleep in 10 minutes.
At any rate, it would be absurd to pretend that beginning a sentence with 'And' is ungrammatical. Cheers.

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Re: And/begin a sentence from clint01, posted on 23-09-2014 at 10:13:34 (D | E)
Hello,
Thank you again, Melmoth. I found your remarks very useful and informative.
I might find an interesting scientific lecture a boring one. No matter how well it is organized and no matter how the lecturer tries his best to confine himself to the topic and makes the audience believe that the topic he is giving lecture about is the best one of its type and it is worth listening. I will yawn after 10 minutes. Because it is not my turf.

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Re: And/begin a sentence from melmoth, posted on 23-09-2014 at 10:48:09 (D | E)
You're welcome, Clint. It's always a pleasure. And, now that I think of it, here's a famous example to illustrate the fact that in formal speech,
a sentence beginning in 'But' (and 'But' is in the same category as 'And' in this respect) is quite acceptable:

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

Here we have a paragraph beginning in 'But'. It's from Abe's Gettysburg Address. He has consecrated the initial But far above our poor power to add or detract. And, if that text is informal, then King James' Bible is written in Cockney. Cheers.

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Re: And/begin a sentence from englishlife, posted on 23-09-2014 at 16:21:54 (D | E)
Clint thank you for giving me the chance to pass through here ..It's very interesting

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Re: And/begin a sentence from sherry48, posted on 23-09-2014 at 17:08:17 (D | E)
Hello clint.

As you can see, it's not as much a question of right or wrong, but of habit. When I went to school--such a long time ago--we were not allowed to write that way. For me, it became a habit to avoid it. When I'm chatting or writing conversationally, I always break this 'rule'. When I turned in college papers, however, I did follow it.

Regards.
Sherry

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