I Did Not Say That, Part 6: Beginning a Sentence with "But"

You can begin a sentence with but—no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I discussed this point in a 2018 post and readdress the issue here with examples from writers far better than most of us who began a sentence with the conjunction.

"But with defeat comes the need to talk, to explain, which presented problems for a fiction writer." Joseph Blotner, Faulkner: A Biography, Volume 1 (1974), page 691

"But it doesn't matter with me now." Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., "I See the Promised Land" 1968 speech, in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writing and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1986), page 286 

"But in 1861 these achievements still lay in the future." James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988), page 321

"But the atmosphere of crisis that has been generated by the confusion among some of the white Americans who control the 'education establishment' is cause not only for alarm but for red alert and hot pursuit." Albert Murray, The Omni-Americans in Albert Murray: Collected Essays & Memoirs (1970), page 177

"But there's a problem, which has more to do with space than race: The longer form does not lend itself to headlines." William Safire, Watching My Language: Adventures in the Word Trade (1997), page 110

These five examples are from five different stylists: a biographer, a social activist, a historian, a critic, and a rhetorician/grammarian. I can offer many more examples of accomplished writers from other fields using but at the beginning of a sentence with their editors' approval. The point of raising this issue is not to encourage starting sentences with but. Rather, I want to reinforce the point that rhetorical rules are usually arbitrary, especially when cited by writing teachers who rarely write. True, overusing but to lead off a sentence may suggest a weak writing style. But the writer's goal is to employ a variety of sentence beginnings, middles, and endings. How can we create this effect without turning to all options available to us?

I Did Not Say That, Part 5: Beginning a Sentence with "Because"

Haven't so many of us been taught not to begin a sentence with because? That advice from our elementary school teachers is incorrect, but I understand why they gave it. They wanted us to avoid writing sentence fragments, like the one in the answer below:

Question: Why did the U.S. Civil War begin?  

Answer: Because of slavery.

Our teachers reasonably expected us to write complete sentences, so they should have accepted an answer that read, "Because of slavery, the U.S. Civil War began." 

Those who refuse to surrender their grade school teachers' admonishment about never beginning a sentence with because will say, "You should use since instead, as in, 'Since there was slavery, the U.S. Civil War began.'"

Well, doesn't because mean since?

Beware of catch-all grammatical or rhetorical rules, those edicts from bogus language authorities that begin with never or always: "Never begin a sentence with because" or "Always use a comma to separate an introductory word, phrase, or clause from the subject of the sentence." Such maxims will sooner or later let you down. Language is too rich, flexible, and dynamic to be subjected to intractable tips.

While I do say it's all right to begin a sentence with because, I add to that advice a suggestion from Aristotle, "In all things moderation." Do not overdo it.

I Did Not Say That, Part 4: Fragments

A fragment is not a complete sentence and, therefore, a grammatical error because it lacks a subject, a predicate, or both. A subject and a predicate are both necessary to form a standard sentence. Here are examples of a correct sentence followed by three incorrect fragments:

Standard sentence: When Henry arrives, the meeting will begin.   

Fragment, lacking subject: When Henry arrives, will begin.

Fragment, lacking predicate: When Henry arrives, the meeting.

Fragment, lacking subject and predicate: When Henry arrives.

Although we learned in school not to write fragments and our managers admonish us to write complete sentences, excellent writers frequently write them. Here is an example of breaking the standard sentence rule by the brilliant writer, Joan Didion, in her 2005 book The Year of Magical Thinking (page 128): 

I  remember learning at UCA the names of many tests and scales. The Kimura Box Test. The Two-Point Discrimination Test. The Glasgow Coma Scale, the Glasgow Outcome Scale.

The first sentence is fine, the next two are fragments and the last is a comma splice, also a nonstandard sentence we have been taught to avoid. So why do writers as great as Didion and their editors allow these fragments? For many reasons, including impact, rhythm, and variety. (The previous sentence is a fragment!) I do not tell people to never write them, but to use them only when their best judgment tells them a fragment works better than a complete sentence. If you've ever written in an email Thanks instead of I thank you, or Received instead of I received your attachment, or Done instead of We have completed the task, then you are writing fragments that most reasonable readers would say are preferable to their longer, correct counterparts.

While a carefully considered fragment may have its place in professional writing for the sake of brevity, we should avoid writing fragments like these:

Opening fragment: In response to your inquiry. (Prefer I am responding to your inquiry.)

Mid-message fragment: Consequently, falling behind schedule. (Prefer Consequently, the project is falling behind schedule.) 

Closing fragment: Questions, 1-732-718-3361. (Prefer If you have questions, call 1-732-718-3361.)

If you are not sure of whether to write a sentence or a fragment, then write a sentence. That's what I said.

I Did Not Say That, Part 3: Ideas vs. Verbiage

In a writing workshop,  I might give a sentence like the one below instructing students to eliminate unnecessary words without changing the writer's intention:

I am writing this email to inform you that you are required to stop conducting your investigation right away on a temporary basis due to the fact that Jefferson is taking a position of not being cooperative in response to your interview. (42 words)

Here is the suggested solution to this editing exercise:

You must immediately discontinue investigating until Jefferson cooperates with your interview. (11 words)

Of course, we do not need the false start, I am writing this email, to understand the sentence. Other longwinded phrases are replaceable by single words (are required = must, conducting your investigation = investigating, right away = immediately, due to the fact that = because,  not being cooperative = noncooperative). Still other phrases mean nothing in the context (is taking a position of, in response to). We also can find ways of implying the meaning with fewer words (until Jefferson cooperates implies well enough that Jefferson is not cooperating and that the discontinuation is temporary). 

Some students miss the point of this exercise by dropping words necessary to the meaning, such as temporarily or immediately, which would change the writer's intent. For this reason, I make a point of discussing the differences among revising, editing, and proofreading, which we should do in this order:

• Revising – a matter of content and structure, when we move, add, or delete ideas to support our point and address the reader's concerns (purposefulness, completeness, organization).
• Editing – a matter of style, when we change the expression of language to best express our intention (courtesy, clarity, conciseness, correctness).  
• Proofreading – a matter of detecting overlooked errors (layout, typos). 

By the time we edit, we should have already determined what goes into the message; we are merely finessing the language, massaging the expression. People mistake my saying delete unnecessary words by eliminating ideas essential to the meaning of the sentence. If it adds value, keep it in; if it does not, out it goes.

I Did Not Say That, Part 2: "To Be"

When I suggest using action verbs in place of being verbs for greater clarity, I am not saying to never use being verbs. As I mentioned in a previous WORDS ON THE LINE post, being verbs (e.g., am, are, is, was, were, be, being, been) have their place in excellent writing. We need to use to be in continuous tense, as in I am running for mayor, or in general statements where a copulative will do, such as She is an engineer or He is Australian.

Nevertheless, using action verbs makes our writing more precise, more clear. Let's revisit those three to be examples in the previous paragraph. Instead of writing I am running for mayor, I can make am running a noun and find a more exact action verb, such as By running for mayor, I plan to transform our town into a more economically vibrant community. Rather than write She is an engineer, I could choose the more informative She graduated from Cornell University with an industrial engineering degree. And I can skip past the man's national identity (He is Australian) toward a more purposeful He lives in Australia but works for a Chinese company. 

I raise the action-verb-over-being-verb issue because we tend toward laziness as writers when over-relying on ambiguous being verbs. So here's the tip: Substitute being verbs for action verbs, unless you are sure that the being alternative is just what you want to say.

I Did Not Say That, Part 1: Passive Voice

Sometimes we should record ourselves when giving writing advice. Over the years, I have heard some disturbing compliments from people who took one or more of my writing workshops. What they said showed me that they did not understand the teaching point. In other words, I did not get the job done. That hurts. I am devoting a dozen posts on these teaching points to set the record straight.

Compliment: "Thanks to you, I never use passive voice."

Reality: I have never told anyone to never use passive voice. The people who have claimed I have either do not know the difference between active and passive voice despite my having taught it to them, or they do not mean never.

Intention: I have written a lot about passive voice in my book The Art of On-the-Job Writing and on this blog. I know the value of passive voice, so I would not tell writers to never use it. Nevertheless, using passive voice could cause ambiguity, wordiness, or awkwardness, and using active voice could create clarity, conciseness, and fluency. For these reasons, I do tell students (1) to know the difference between active and passive voice, (2) to prefer active voice, and (3) to practice transposing passive voice to active voice and vice-versa.  

The posts in this blog on passive voice (type "passive voice" in the search bar) should prove useful if you need help in this area. 

Plagiarism Detection Services from a Friend of WORDS ON THE LINE

My mantra as a writing trainer is this: stay fresh. Update your writing skillset by practicing the craft, reading diversely, and researching new ideas in rhetoric. This approach will keep you at the top of your game. You can imagine how delighted I am when I see one of my students in a writing course or readers of this blog heeding this advice. That's why Maja Ampov made my today so cool. 

I probably was wondering whether anyone was reading my posts when I wrote more than nine years ago about the value of using a plagiarism detection service since the editors and professors who read your submissions do. But today I received an email from Maja proving that lifelines are all over the internet. She thanked me for that post but went two giant steps further by 1) independently researching plagiarism detection services and 2) contacting me about her findings. She wrote, 

While this tool you mentioned works great, I got curious and started looking for other options and I came across this article (with) a list of similar tools: https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/best-plagiarism-checking-tools/

What I like the most about this article is their honesty and objectiveness when choosing/ranking the best and more accurate plagiarism check tools available out there, in addition, they suggested a few free tools, so it’s great for someone who would want to try it.

Maja recommended I add her suggestion to WORDS ON THE LINE and concluded with the most beautiful complimentary closing I've ever read:

In hope I helped back,

Maja

Oh did you ever, Maja. A big thanks to you!