Editing Conjunction (grammar) (section)

== Starting a sentence ==
{{see also|English usage controversies}}

It is now generally agreed that a sentence may begin with a coordinating conjunction like ''and'',<ref name="MWDEU and">{{Cite book| page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877796336/page/69 69]| title = Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage| date = 2002| publisher = Penguin| isbn = 9780877796336| url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877796336/page/69}}</ref> ''but,''<ref name="MWDEU but">{{Cite book| page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877796336/page/151 151]| title = Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage| date = 2002| publisher = Penguin| isbn = 9780877796336| url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877796336/page/151}}</ref> or ''yet''.<ref>{{Cite book|page=979 |last1=Garner |first1=Bryan A. |author-link1= Bryan A. Garner|title=Garner's Modern English Usage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-049148-2}}</ref> While some people consider this usage improper, ''[[Follett's Modern American Usage]]'' labels its prohibition a "supposed rule without foundation" and a "prejudice [that] lingers from a bygone time."<ref name="Garner 2016"/>

Some associate this belief with their early school days. One conjecture is that it results from young children's being taught to avoid simple sentences starting with ''and'' and are encouraged to use more complex structures with subordinating conjunctions.<ref name="MWDEU and" /> In the words of [[Bryan A. Garner]], the "widespread belief ... that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as ''and'', ''but'', or ''so'' has no historical or grammatical foundation",<ref>{{cite book |first=Bryan A.|last=Garner |chapter= Grammar and Usage | title=The Chicago Manual of Style |edition=16th |year= 2010 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location= Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-10420-1|page=257}}</ref> and good writers have frequently started sentences with conjunctions.<ref name="Garner 2016">{{Cite book|page=204 |last1=Garner |first1=Bryan A. |author-link1= Bryan A. Garner|title=Garner's Modern English Usage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-049148-2}}</ref>

There is also a misleading guideline that a sentence should never begin with ''because''. ''Because'' is a subordinating conjunction and introduces a dependent clause. It may start a sentence when the main clause follows the dependent clause.<ref>{{Cite book|page=101 |last1=Garner |first1=Bryan A. |author-link1= Bryan A. Garner|title=Garner's Modern English Usage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-049148-2}}</ref>

===Examples===
* "And now we have Facebook and Twitter and Wordpress and Tumblr and all those other platforms that take our daily doings and transform them into media."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/an-optimists-guide-to-political-correctness/384927/ |title=An Optimist's Guide to Political Correctness |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=2015-11-26}}</ref>
* "So any modern editor who is not paranoid is a fool".<ref name="economist2006">{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21641204-john-micklethwait-who-has-edited-newspaper-2006-leaves-today-these-are-his-parting |title=The case for liberal optimism |newspaper=The Economist |date=2015-01-31 |access-date=2015-11-26}}</ref>
* "And strikes are protected globally, existing in many of the countries with labour laws outside the Wagner Act model."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14610/index.do |title=Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan - SCC Cases (Lexum) |date=January 2001 |publisher=Scc-csc.lexum.com |access-date=2015-11-26}}</ref>