Ok to Use 'And' and 'But' to Begin a Sentence . . .

But wait! Isn't that totally a 180 from what we were always taught?! And shouldn't we therefore refrain from using "but" and "and" at the beginning of a sentence?

Super astute readers will discover I just used 'em both, above (hopefully even readers still mostly asleep will have caught that).

Fact is, check most any major and respectable newspaper, magazine, and book, and you'll find plenty of instances where "And" and "But" are used to start a sentence.

Obviously they're connectors that help the flow of a particular thought. And they also help achieve a conversational tone. But use them judiciously. See how I just did!

So, forget Mrs. Fussybean, your 7th-grade teacher, who swore you'd grow a third ear or something if you ever deigned to use "But" or "And" to begin a sentence. You can do it. Honest.

There. Now don't you feel better!

(NOTE: a question mark is NOT required or even desired in a sentence that's a "question" when it's a rhetorical question -- one for which you really don't expect an answer. Such as, "Now don't you feel better!")

Proof It OUT LOUD!

Proof everything you write by reading it out loud.

We read with our ears as well as our eyes. When you hear your words, you also hear and catch errors you're likely not to catch if you only read your work silently.

It works, and I've proven it time and time and time again. To myself, and to others -- such as students in my courses -- who nod in agreement that, yeah, this technique really does work.

That's my advice on this 5th day of February, 2014.