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.

Can Two Words that Mean the Exact Opposite also Mean the Same Thing?

The answer is, well, yes. At least in the following quirky example:

Can.

Can't.

Opposites.

But not so fast. How about here:

"See if you can get a better quote from that source," the editor said to Bill.

"See if you can't get a better quote from that source," the editor said to Bill.

Uh-oh. Now "can" and "can't" really serve the same purpose and mean the same thing. And either one -- can or can't -- would be acceptable in this context.

What a crazy, crazy language English is.

One of My Pet Peeves . . . .

One of my pet peeves within the world of writing is when people write (and say) "and" instead of "to" in this context:

You should try and live a good life.

No!

You should try to live a good life.

In this first instance, you're basically suggesting two activities: you should try (something); and you should also live a good life.

But there are NOT two different things going on; there is just one thing: an attempt to live a good life.

So the sentence should be: You should try to live a good life.

Got it? Good! I hate, hate, hate when people get that screwed-up -- and way too many do. Including a local Buffalo radio talk show host whose name I won't mention. But every time I hear him say it wrong, I want to beat my car radio with a hammer.

Especially for My Students . . .

If you're one of my students seeking guidance re: your basic writing skills, welcome! There's no shame in not being clear about certain issues pertaining to grammar, punctuation, etc.

In my quest to keep every post relatively short, let's tackle the problem of the run-on sentence.

A run-on is where two different thoughts are improperly connected -- or, in effect, not connected at all -- and thus form a run-on of words that makes for a disaster of a "sentence." Here's an example:

Susie went to the store earlier than anticipated she realized how bad the weather was threatening to get.

It should be clear that the run-on occurs between the words "anticipated" and "she." These are two separate thoughts that run together, forming -- you guessed it -- a run-on sentence.

It would ALSO be a run-on if the wrong punctuation mark -- a comma -- appeared like so:

Susie went to the store earlier than anticipated, she realized how bad the weather was threatening to get.

While that may look ok, it's not. It's a comma splice, which is another term for run-on.

The comma would be ok, however, if the sentence read like this:

Susie went to the store earlier than anticipated, as she realized how bad the weather was threatening to get.

So there are THREE SOLUTIONS to fix a run-on sentence:

1 Use a semi-colon where the run-on occurs.
2 Use a conjunction, such as "as, but, because, while," etc.
3 Break the thought into two separate sentences.

Here's how our example sentence would look with a semi-colon:

Susie went to the store earlier than anticipated; she realized how bad the weather was threatening to get.

Here's when a semi-colon works: when it's used to join two independent clauses. And ONLY when the two clauses it's joining are independent.

It's simple. An independent clause means the phrase can stand alone (independently) and read as a proper sentence. In the example just given, "Susie went to the store earlier than anticipated" can stand alone. It reads ok. It reads like a sentence should. It's independent.

And the second clause (the one that comes after the semi-colon) also is independent: "she realized how bad the weather was threatening to get." So a semi-colon is the proper punctuation mark to un-do the run-on problem here.

Let me show you how, if the second clause were NOT independent (i.e., if it were a "dependent" clause, needing some other words in order for it to make sense as a stand-alone phrase), then a semi-colon would NOT be the proper way to un-do the run-on sentence problem:

"as she realized how bad the weather was threatening to get." Do you see? That is not a sentence. Not a separate, stand-alone, independent thought (or independent clause). It simply makes no sense -- taken alone -- to say, "as she realized how bad the weather was threatening to get."

So, you use a semi-colon to solve a run-on problem ONLY when it joins or connects two independent clauses.

The second approach is using a conjunction, generally accompanied by a comma (but NOT a semi-colon). Thus:

Susie went to the store earlier than anticipated, because she realized how bad the weather was threatening to get. The conjunction here is the word "because."

And finally, simply make two sentences out of it all:

Susie went to the store earlier than anticipated. She realized how bad the weather was threatening to get.

Well, that took a bit longer than I'd hoped. But I hope you understand what we've covered here. Good luck!

Keep Like Things Together . . .

Misplacing modifiers and other such errors make for awkwardness or -- even worse -- the compromising of CLARITY. Remember: clarity wins the day above all else. Once again, no one every complains that a piece of writing is too clear.

Now, take a look at these two passages. The first one was how it actually appeared in an online news story. The second is how I re-wrote it.

In the first instance, it sounds like the guy's nasty deeds were done while in prison! Not true. I hope you agree and see why the second version is better:

The disgraced and former football hero who’s serving a 33-year sentence for assault, robbery and kidnapping in a Nevada prison has reportedly asked President Obama to set him free so he can treat his life-threatening brain cancer outside prison.

The disgraced and former football hero who’s serving a 33-year sentence in a Nevada prison for assault, robbery and kidnapping has reportedly asked President Obama to set him free so he can treat his life-threatening brain cancer outside prison.

'Everyday' and 'Every Day' - An explanation of Their Difference . . .

Many words get confused: everyday and every day (two words) are excellent examples.

Luckily, the explanation is simple.

The single word, "everyday," is an adjective. It's one word, not two, and describes something. That's what adjectives do -- they describe.

So, here are two examples:

Studying hard is an everyday habit of successful students.

Testing the chlorine level is an everyday chore of the pool attendant.

In both of the above sentences, "everyday" is an adjective describing things (habit, and chore).

By contrast, the two words, "every day," are used like this:

Successful students walk through these halls every day.

And like this:

Jane checks the pool's chlorine level every day.

And there you have it. Study it. Practice it. Learn it. Use it. Ta-da!!