Friday, February 8, 2008

Grammar Confusion

Throughout elementary school and middle school I was always taught that a sentence could not start with and, or, or because. Now the rule is just embedded in my brain. I feel as if I am wrong if I want to use these words as sentence starters. However, in different text I see this so called or so previously taught rule being broken. I want to know the truth about this rule. For example is it possible to say, And I told him I did not care to go to the movies. I found through this link http:///www.towson.edu an answer to part of my question. The link gives an example of because being used as a sentence starter. The link is an informative page of common grammar and sentence structure. I think it may be very helpful to me in the near future because I will be writing numerous papers.


However, I still wonder, if a sentence can start with and, or, or because why was I taught differently in my early years of schooling and was anyone else taught the same?

3 comments:

sklmnop said...

I was taught the same thing, and it was hard for me to adjust to start using those words as sentence starts. I still avoid using them if I can because I still feel like I'm wrong when I'm doing it.

Anna Smiley said...

I also feel the same. I always avoid using and or because at the beginning of a sentence, but it seems like everything I read has more than one sentence starting with and or because. I'm not sure why they teach us not to do that.

Greg D said...

I think most people were taught the something in elementary school and have gotten used to it. Because these rules are ingrained in my head a rarely start a sentence with because, and never with "and."