Starting a Sentence with a Conjunction: Right or Wrong? Good 'Subpar' and Bad 'Subpar.'

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2021

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Many people have been taught that it's wrong to start a sentence with a conjunction, but nearly all major style guides say doing so is fine. Neal Whitman investigates why there seems to be such a difference between what teachers say and what style guides say. Also, we look at why sometimes "subpar" is good, and sometimes "subpar" is bad. Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates. Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Grammar Pop iOS game. Peeve Wars card game. Grammar Girl books. HOST: Mignon Fogarty VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. Links: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/ https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcasts https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribe https://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirl http://twitter.com/grammargirl http://facebook.com/grammargirl http://pinterest.com/realgrammargirl http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm a neon-fogarty and you can think of me as your friendly guide to the English language.
0:10.6	We talk about writing, history, rules, and cool stuff.
0:14.0	Today, we'll talk about starting a sentence with a conjunction like and but and or, and
0:19.3	we'll talk about why par, the word par, sometimes seems to be a good thing and sometimes seems
0:24.6	to be a bad thing.
0:26.7	Before we get started, I have a message for Grant from North Carolina.
0:29.8	I played your spousage familylect in the January 21st episode and you should still be able
0:34.8	to find that in the feed.
0:36.4	Thanks for the voicemail.
0:38.6	This next segment is by Neil Whitman.
0:43.1	Today we're asking whether it's okay to begin a sentence with and but or or.
0:48.1	The short answer is yes and just about all modern grammar books and stock guides agree.
0:52.8	So who is it that keeps saying it's wrong to do it?
0:56.8	Well, and but and or are the three most common members of a group of words known as coordinating
1:02.2	conjunctions.
1:04.3	The question about whether it's grammatical to begin a sentence with and but or or is
1:08.9	actually the question of whether it's grammatical to begin a sentence with a coordinating
1:12.7	conjunction.
1:13.7	Here's what some of the big usage guides say on the matter.
1:17.6	The one that seems to get quoted the most is the Chicago Manual of Style, which says quote,
1:22.8	there's a widespread belief one with no historical or grammatical foundation that it's an
1:28.1	error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and but or so.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mignon Fogarty, Inc., and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mignon Fogarty, Inc. and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.