Page 178 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

17.6 Conjunctions at the Beginning of a Sentence

They are not completely forbidden but should be used sparingly, and only in
special circumstances. In short, they can be used when two independent clauses,

which could otherwise be joined with a conjunction in one sentence, are, instead,
left as individual sentences.

Unsophisticated writers tend to overuse conjunctions in written language

because they are mimicking their common use in verbal language, and it saves
having to write proper transitions between ideas.

See section 2.4, Example Paragraphs, for an example and section 14.0,
Conjunctions.

17.7 Dangling Modifiers

Dangling modifiers don’t make it clear what is being modified. Just be sure your
modifiers are clearly associated with the thing they are modifying. Also, be sure

it’s clear who is acting.

■ Bad: Outraged, a refund was demanded.
■ Good: Outraged, the customers demanded a refund.

■ Bad: Searching for an answer, the book would not open.

■ Good: Searching for an answer, he could not open the book.

17.8 Double Negatives

A common myth is that double negatives make a positive. What usually happens
is the two negatives reinforce or emphasize the negativity. For example: He

don’t need no money. = He doesn’t need money.

■ I don’t know nothing about birthing no babies. = I really don’t know
anything about birthing babies.

However, that’s not to say you should use double negatives. Except in rare cases,