Conjunctions, Part 1: To Start or Not to Start

Conjunctions cause all kind of headaches for writers, but they are immensely important for linking words and ideas in good communication.

Conjunctions are connecting words, and there are three types:

1. Coordinating—joins similar or dissimilar words (or groups of words) of equal weight (e.g., and, but, yet, nor)

2. Correlative—joins similar groups of words by showing how they co-relate; always comes in pairs (e.g., either…or, both…and, not only…but also)

3. Subordinating—connects two ideas where one is more important than the other; often communicates cause and effect (e.g., if, because, unless, so)

Today I want to answer the first of two common conjunction questions:

1. Is it correct to start a sentence with and, but, or yet in formal writing even though my writing and grammar-check software says I shouldn’t?

2. When I start a sentence with one of these words, should I follow it with a comma as my writing software says I should?

 
Is It Correct to Start a Sentence with And, But, or Yet?

• There are seven coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. (A common memory device for this list of conjunctions is the acronym FAN BOYS.)

• On the sentence level, these joiners connect independent clauses, usually with a comma, to make compound sentences: He got up to write, and she slept in. They also function as joiners at the word level: The caramelly yet pungent aroma of his coffee finally woke her up.

• Many people are taught in school that use of a coordinating conjunction to start a sentence is wrong. But this restriction has resulted from a poor attempt to wean students from the overuse of coordinating conjunctions at the beginning of sentences rather than an actual grammar rule. (See what I did there? I wanted to emphasize the word wrong by landing on it at the end of a sentence, and I also wanted to emphasize the disjuntive nature of the ideas in the two sentences. So I used a conjunction yet kept the sentences separate rather than join them with a comma.)

• Often grammar-check software follows this incorrect “rule” and tags coordinating conjunctions at the beginning of sentences as errors in formal writing. As a result, writers often put heavy-weight transition words like thus, however, and in addition at the beginning of sentences instead: However, her writing time had disappeared. These words slow down the connection with a weighty pause.

• Know that you can use a coordinating conjunction at the beginning of a sentence as a quick and powerful connector, a connector that often adds an element of surprise to the finished statement that comes before it: He got up early to write while she slept in. The pungent aroma of his coffee finally woke her up and got her writing too. And she scolded him for waking her up after her long night shift instead of letting her rest.