Putting "However" in Its Place

Has your editor or teacher ever instructed you to avoid using however at the beginning of a sentence? If you’ve worked with me, your most likely answer is yes. But we see the word starting sentences all the time in published writing, don’t we? So why this confusing prohibition against its use?

Before you put your head down and start banging it on your desk over another complicated grammar conundrum, hang in there with me for a surprisingly simple explanation.

 I love the invention of global positioning systems and turn-by-turn  directions because, quite frankly, I get confused by my surroundings. A  lot. But I have a gripe: my GPS lacks discernment.

Often as I’m driving somewhere, my GPS directs me past my destination  and then tells me, “Make a U-turn, and then in 700 feet, turn right.”  Now, the GPS is correct—I can certainly drive forward 700 feet, wait for  the light, make a U-turn, drive another 700 feet, and then turn right  into the parking lot. But why would I want to travel an extra quarter  mile when I could more reasonably turn left to my destination through a  split in the median?

The conjunctive adverb however is much like that U-turn my GPS  likes so much. It pulls readers around in an about-face move and sends  them in another direction. This about-face works well when a U-turn is  needed. It irks, however, when used at the beginning of a sentence in  place of the simple left turn: but.
 
Starting with However Is Correct Grammar
As I mentioned in a previous post conjunctive adverbs (followed by a comma) often start sentences,  modifying the verb while adding a logical connection to what comes  before it. Thus, authors use correct grammar when they begin sentences with the word however, meaning “nevertheless.” The word serves as a conjunctive adverb and follows those rules.
 
But Avoid It for Good Style
Strunk and White tell us in their essential manual, Elements of Style, “Avoid starting a sentence with however when the meaning is is ‘nevertheless.’ The word usually serves better when not in first position.”1 And the Chicago Manual of Style  says, “For purposes of euphony [combination of words pleasing to the  ear] and flow, not of grammar, many highly accomplished writers shun the  sentence-starting however as a contrasting word.”2

Of course, when the word means “in whatever way,” it works well in a  starting position because it needs no comma and isn’t introducing a  U-turn. But the ponderous three syllables of the sentence-starting however  with contrastive meaning act like a three-color traffic light stuck on  red; the comma that follows ensures you stop and wait every time rather  than flow through the turn. When you place however in the middle or end of a sentence, however,  you push a magic traffic-light button that turns the left-turn arrow  green. You slow down to acknowledge the contrast, but then you  accelerate on through the turn.

Rarely, you might want to intentionally create a ponderous stop-and-wait  moment to highlight an about-face from all that you’ve said before it.  But before you decide to force your reader into a red-light U-turn,  remember how impatiently you tap on your steering wheel when you’re  sitting at one. Make sure it’s worth it. 
 
Inklings at Work (and Play)
Next time you read an article online or at work, look for those starting  howevers. Mentally replace however with but or yet or move however to a  middle position and see how it changes the tone and pace. Go and do  likewise! 

1. William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed. (Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2000), 48.

2. Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed., 5.204.