I won't even try and take credit for this, but we've recently been working with a writing group called (rather originally) The Writer, to help one client to re-engage people by binning the corporate language, looseningup and starting to write more the way we talk...

But I wanted to share a good question (and even better) answer that that came out of this.

Q.

"The way I talk and the way I write are completely different. I can't use the words 'and' and 'but' to start a sentence, that's just bad grammar..."

A.

So to dispell a few literary myths I will hand over to The Writer who had this great response...

Oneof the most persistent misconceptions about writing in English is thatyou're not allowed to start a sentence with ‘and' or ‘but'. Utterrubbish. In fact, sometimes they're the only words that will do – theycan give your writing pace, drama and oomph. And writers have beendoing it for hundreds of years.

But you probably knew thatalready. Maybe you're thinking ‘that's all fine by me, but my bossthinks it's wrong. How do I persuade someone else that it's OK?'

Show some examples
They're everywhere. But if you need one in a hurry, try:

‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.'
Genesis Chapter 1, The Bible, King James version
(In fact, the Bible can't get enough of it: 33 of the 35 sentences in Genesis Chapter 1 begin with ‘and'.)

‘Manyof these missions, including MoonLite, are far from assured. And thereis no shortage of people suggesting we're better spending moneyelsewhere. But who can fail to be inspired when they look up at theMoon on a clear night?'
BBC news website, 19 July 2009

‘Thecoalition's leaders, at least, seem to have grasped that it must behavenot as an occupying army but as a partner, whose aim is to build up thelocal forces that will ultimately ensure Afghanistan's security. Andsoldiers and civilians are beginning to understand that development aidcan benefit local people...'
The Economist, 17 October 2009.

Set a challenge
Ifsomeone says they get annoyed by sentences starting with ‘and' or‘but', ask them to check their newspaper. They'll have been happilyreading them for years, without even noticing. We only tend to spot theands and buts if we're asked to look at a bit of writing critically.

Today(5th November 2009), we skimmed through the Times, the Daily Telegraph,the Financial Times, the Independent and the Economist. Every singleone of them has sentences and paragraphs starting with ‘and' on almostevery page. And we lost count of the number of sentences that startedwith ‘but'. There were hundreds – three on the front page of theGuardian alone.

And if they still don't buy it?
Hey, there are still some people out there who think the world is flat. You can't win 'em all.

(For all things wordy you can find The Writer at www.thewriter.co.uk)