Page 716 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

Woodrow held up his prize fish and posed for the camera, then
fell off the end of the fishing pier.

Real-World Writing: Is It Okay to Start

a Sentence with But?

Yes and no. Grammatically, it is correct to start a sentence with

but or any other FANBOYS conjunction. However, your

instructors may discourage the practice for two good reasons:

1. Beginning a sentence with but is an informal technique.

It may work in personal essays but should not be used in
formal compositions such as research papers. (This text,

you may have noticed, takes an informal, conversational

approach, addressing you directly and occasionally

using a FANBOYS conjunction to begin a sentence.)

2. Using but to begin a sentence can be addictive. But is

the strongest contrast signal in our language, and it’s
easy to overuse.

The bottom line? Use conjunctions to begin sentences only if

your instructor gives the green light, and then use them

sparingly.

Practice 16-5 Correcting Missing-