Is It Wrong to Begin a Sentence With “But”?
Is It Wrong to Begin a Sentence With “But”?Answer: No. According to a usage note in the fourth edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, “But may be used to begin a sentence at all levels of style.” The same point was made over a century ago by Harvard rhetorician Adams Sherman Hill: “Objection is sometimes taken to employment of but or and at the beginning of a sentence; but for this there is much good usage” (The Principles of Rhetoric, 1896). In fact, it has been common practice to begin sentences with a conjunction since at least as far back as the 10th century. Still, the superstition persists that and and but should be used only to join elements within a sentence, not to join one sentence to another. Here, for instance, is an edict found recently on an English professor’s “Composition Cheat Sheet”: Never begin a sentence with a conjunction of any kind, especially one of the FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but,
