Better writing: And

At school we were taught never to start sentences with “And”.

And yet newspaper journalists do it all the time. It’s one of the first so-called writing rules professional writers learn to break.

There’s nothing wrong with using “And” to begin a sentence or a paragraph. In fact, it can be a great way to smooth the flow of a series of short sentences that would otherwise appear too staccato for comfortable reading.

However, it works best if you only break this rule in moderation. Overusing “And” at the start of sentences quickly makes your text boring.

As Keith Waterhouse points out in the excellent Daily Mirror Style, if you write too many sentences starting with the word, your prose will read like the New English Bible.

I consciously limit my use of sentences beginning with “And”. As a rule of thumb I aim for only one “And” sentence start in a short piece. For longer stories, you can get away with using it a few times. But control any urge to sprinkle sentences starting with “And” through your copy.

Other conjunctions

The school rule didn’t just apply to “And”, starting sentences with other conjunctions was equally forbidden. As an aside, conjunctions are ‘joining’ words used to string phrases together – usually, but not always, to build more complex sentences.

There are plenty of alternative conjunctions to call on at the start of your sentences:

• “But” is a great way to start a sentence that disagrees with the previous one.
• “Yet” is a less-frequently used alternative.
• “Or” is a great word for helping text flow.
• Some people don’t like sentences to start with “However”. I would regard that as another rule worth breaking.
• “Although” is a possibility. In practice it can be better to shorten the word to “Though” at the start of a sentence.

More ideas

Michelle Pierce covered this subject rather well in Three Grammar Rules You Can (And Should) Break for Copyblogger.

Better writing

This is the second in a series of articles aimed at helping you to improve your writing. The material is based on my 30-plus years experience as an editor and journalist working on newspapers and magazines. If you could use my skills to help communicate your message, please visit my website: billbennett.co.nz