Those who studied English language in school may remember being discouraged from starting sentences with the word “and”.
However, reading around the internet, you’ll come across many instances where “and” launches a sentence penned by professional copywriters, marketeers and bloggers.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the grammatical rules regarding using “and” as the first word in a sentence.
Understanding “and”
“And” is defined as a coordinating conjunction. It is used frequently to connect words in sentences, speech and clauses that should be taken together.
“And” is perhaps the most versatile and common coordinating conjunction. A conjunction is used to connect two ideas or thoughts. As a coordinating conjunction, “and” can connect two independent clauses (complete sentences).
Starting with “and” is not against the rules
Despite what teachers drilled into students over the years, there is no grammatical rule that forbids beginning a sentence with “and”. If you were to type a sentence starting with “and” into a document ruled by spellcheck like a Word file or an online writing app like Grammarly, it wouldn’t highlight your placement as an error.
While it’s true that “and” can be employed to connect two sentences, no rule exists to insist “and” must connect them in a single sentence with the use of a comma. “And” can correctly be used to start a complete sentence of its own.
To make sentences shorter and easier for readers to digest, some writers break up content by beginning a sentence with “and”. They may also use it when writing dialogue to emphasise a point or to create interest with more engaging sentence starters.
When not to use “and” at the beginning of a sentence
It’s generally advised to avoid overuse of “and” as a sentence starter in informal writing; however, there are circumstances when it isn’t considered appropriate. Beginning a sentence with the word “and” is not recommended in formal writing. This is because it creates sentence fragments. It is also considered best practice to avoid “and” at the start of sentences in technical writing.
Finally, it’s important to consider who your audience is whenever your write. With an understanding that many readers may have been schooled to believe starting sentences with “and” is incorrect, there is a likelihood that your work may be viewed as containing errors.