One for the English teachers

[Choclatespread]

Can you put a 'And', with a capital letter after a full stop.

Yes.

Strictly speaking no as it is meant to connect 2 clauses but you can do it for emphasis or effect afaik. Someone better will be along soon anyway.

I was always taught this was against the rules but apparently it is not. I find it jars though if I see it.

Toatally not when I was growing up, but you see it more and more now (Oh, I'm not an English teacher - just chipping in my two pennies worth )

The rule of thumb is no, but it can be used for stylistic effect. "And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain." - from the first page of A Christmas Carol.

I wouldn't do it in formal writing; you could try a synonym such as "moreover" or "additionally" instead.

I am a secondary English teacher. I never tell children that starting a sentence with 'and' is against the rules (although they often tell me it is bloody primary teachers) Yes it is a connective, but it connects two ideas as much as it connects two clauses. Other connectives can start sentences without fuss - but, because, so etc. - so why not 'and'?

Thanks for all the replies.
It's just I have always taught my 8 year old that you couldn't. And today he saw it in a book he was reading, and spotted out it was wrong.

I wouldn't start a sentence with but, because or so, in formal writing.

I think you need to know the rules, for then you will also pick up how to break them to good stylistic effect. The ability to write standard formal English is also an important skill.

Connectives aren't supposed to start a sentence. However, it can be done occasionally in order to make a point. (see what I did there)

It each sec English btw and have tutored students through various exams. Most exam boards would see it as a mistake except in the case of creative writing. There is an entire world of punctuation which can give a pause before using a connective. Full stops are not the only option.

kickass that's what I thought. It shouldn't be used to start a sentence.
Even though I did it in my last comment, I have never used the word 'and' to start a sentence because thats what i was taught but I'm seeing it a lot in the children's reading books.

Fortunately I do NOT teach typing skills.

You're right, though, a lot more .And being seen around. I know that language progresses etc, but are we to wave good-bye to things like commas, colons & semi-colons?

John Steinbeck does it in "Of Mice and Men". I always tell my students that when THEY win the Nobel Prize for literature, then they can start sentences with "And"

I'm not a teacher, but I do remember being taught that sentences should not begin with- and, but, because, so, also. In formal writing I would not do so, but for certain stylistic effects it could be done.

Yes, I remember being told NEVER to do it when I was at primary school, but being a bit as I read it in books all the time!

To be honest, the big error I see commonly as an English teacher is not using Ands after full stops but new sentences after commas eg comma splicing. That is wrong in any writer, Nobel prize winner or not, and I assure that you that neither Dickens nor Steninbeck would have made that error.

There is a difference between the over-simplified rules we teach primary schol children and the real rules of English.

By the same token, presumably Shakespeare's spelling is just 'wrong'.

Silly old Shakespeare.

It all depends on what you are writing. Most 'rules' flex depending on context. In a colloquial or informal piece you can - and should - write naturally and idiomatically. In a more formal piece - a report or an official letter or a serious document of any kind - convention still dictates that you write appropriately. All English teaching these days is predicated on writing 'appropriately' for the circumstances and the context. And this applies to using 'and' at the start of a sentence just as it applies to writing complete sentences or using slang or corruptions such as 'innit?' or whatever. What matters is that children learn that we use different English for different purposes and that a style or an expression that might be fine and right in one context just ain't in other. Geddit?

technically you shouldn't.
it's okay to use it in speech (as in person A said, "And....")
And it's great for using for emphasis.

Have connectives always been connectives? Were they conjunctions when I was at school, or am I going mad?

Other languages do not allow you to start a sentence with "And" either.
Think about other languages you are familiar with.(French and German in my case) Do they begin a sentence with Et or Und? No, I don't think so.
So it seems to be a universal grammar rule. Sorry to sound pedantic. Trying to be helpful.

TheFallenMadonna - I also learned about conjunctions.

Oh good.

When did it change I wonder?

I'm sure Google will provide an answer if you really want one!

Ah, now I had actually done just that. Apparently, a conjunction links clauses within a sentence, whereas a connective links clauses or sentences. Conjunctions are therefore a subset of connectives? So presumably, connectives can be used to start a sentence. I shall investigate further...