APPRECIATION #74: STARTING SENTENCES WITH THE WORD AND

And the artful use of the sentence fragment.

I hope I didn’t react too strongly to my freshman English class today. Someone read a sentence that I wrote that started with the word and.

They said that I couldn’t do that. They then listed teacher’s names and how those teachers had punished them or red-inked them in the past.

It was a fun conversation. The refrain, “You can’t…” kept coming up. I wasn’t the one saying it. Well, I disagree. You can. And sometimes you should.

I am, admittedly, a descriptive, not a prescriptive, linguist. I like to start sentences with the word AND. I like to play with words. I like to experiment. I like to make up words, because that how words are made. I believe strongly that this is why we have English classes, to do just that. Who gives me permission? I do. And I believe the examples on most bookshelves support this. I believe this: Language was made for man, not man for language.

Yes, it’s true, that STANDARD ACADEMIC ENGLISH or FORMAL WRITING frowns on certain language conventions. Yes, there are many English teachers out there who would mark papers down, or whatever, for linguistic ticks that they don’t like. Whatever. Understand your Audience and Purpose. Write accordingly. (I get upset when I see the word utilize. It’s not rational. But, there it is.)

I walked to the library after school today and picked up the first book I saw. This is the first sentence of Primitive People by Francine Prose:

“And this is the attic,” Mrs. Porter said, “where supposedly my husband’s ancestors hid out during the Civil War.

It’s dialogue. It’s in a novel. But it does start with the word and.

I picked up the second book that caught my eye, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. This is a popular nonfiction text that has won awards. I found this sentence on the top of page 2:

And so we dutifully had done, until now.

On the top of page 3:

And it surely would not be nearly so fat.

I went back to classroom and grabbed what many people consider THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL! I got to page 2 in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:

And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit.

I appreciate my student’s concerns about doing it right, about preparing for college, for following the rules. It is my firm belief that having a chorus of voices saying “you can’t” does not help you learn to write. In the editing process, depending on where you are going to show your work, it might be wise to conform to standard conventions, or particular preferences of the audience you are writing for.

Ultimately, it’s a matter of style. My favorite writers, and most of the books I read, use languages in many different ways. This is one of my favorites sentences, largely because of the rhythm created by the two sentence fragments at the end.

I love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. And Mother. And God.

– Johnny Cash

(Used as the introductory quotation to Sarah Vowell’s Take The Cannoli)

I am not an English teacher that says YOU CAN’T. I say this: YOU CAN!
And I also say this: Sometimes you shouldn’t.

But mostly: YOU CAN!

And that’s why we’re in here.