The answer is emphatically “no.”
When I published my first book, I was told by my publisher that The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition
There is a widespread belief – – one with no historical or grammatical foundation — that it is an error to begin a sentence a conjunction such as and, but, or so. In fact, a substantial percentage (often as many 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice. Charles Allen Lloyd’s 1938 words fairly sum up the situation as it stands even today; “Next to the groundless notion that it is incorrect to end an English sentence with a preposition, perhaps the most wide-spread of the many false beliefs about the use of our language is the equally groundless notion that it is incorrect to begin one with ‘but’ or ‘and.’ As is the case of the superstition about the prepositional ending, no textbook supports it, but apparently about half of our teachers of English go out of their way to handicap their pupils by inculcating it. One cannot help whether those who teach such a monstrous doctrine ever read any English themselves.” (Emphasis in the original)
Please help this go viral. Forward it to English teachers. Share it with your friends. Stop the madness.
When you find other grammatical errors in this post, please do not comment on them. Stick to the topic at hand: the Philistine practice of saying that one cannot begin a sentence with a conjunction.
Good one! That one has hamstrung me a few times as well. Recently, I attended a writing mentorship program and it was in there too. But it seems only right that one should be able to begin a sentence this way. And confound it, I’m going to do it! Well, that is, if my publisher lets me. 😀
So, we’ve all been taught incorrectly, is what you are talking about?
No Wyn, as near as I can tell, only about half of us have been taught incorrectly. Unfortunately, those who have been taught incorrectly defend the practice with the sort of tenacity that fundamentalists defend inerrancy. Worse, some of the offenders have gone into teaching where they threaten to reproduce thsemselves. Finally, and this is where the real tragedy comes in, some of the misinformed teachers persuade students who come home and argue the wrong position with their parents which results in the style manual being read aloud.
Thank you Debra. You are most encouraging. Also on some days, I feel that I am the only one under the broom tree who has not bowed down. Now I find that there are still 7000 who have not taken a knee. Or, if they did, they have at least jumped to their feet and taken on the right cause.
Chris, hopefully you got my tongue in cheek response. Started with a conjunction and ended with a preposition.
No – – I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. I missed it. But am now duly entertained. Hey, I have a lot going on.
Hah – yes! To use a similar analogy, sometimes I feel like I’m the only tree standing, then I hear another tree rustling in the “wind” – like you! Does my heart good!