As a college English instructor, I continually have to remove writing myths from my students’ brains. These rules don’t appear in any grammar book, but they are taught year after year.
You can’t end a sentence with a preposition.
Yes, you can. The world won’t stop revolving, and your old English teacher can’t argue because there is no such rule. The problem started in England back in 1672 when John Dryden wrote a piece criticizing Ben Jonson for ending a sentence with a preposition. Dryden believed that since the construction wasn’t possible in Latin, it shouldn’t be possible in English.
Clearly, this logic doesn’t make sense: English is its own language. But some people agreed with Dryden and spread the rule around. The issue became a subject of debate. Robert Lowth, a respected academic, wrote in the 1760s that ending a sentence with a preposition was acceptable in “familiar” or everyday writing but that avoiding the construction was “more graceful” for “the solemn and elevated style.”
So there’s no rule against it. One note: Make sure you need the preposition.
NOT: Where’s the new copier at?
INSTEAD: Where’s the new copier?
If you encounter fierce resistance from overzealous followers of the nonexistent but persistent rule, you can recast the sentence, but the result is usually awkward. I saw a funny example of recasting on a greeting card (one that unfortunately used an unnecessary preposition):
GIRL #1: Where’s your birthday party at?
GIRL #2: Never end a sentence with a preposition.
GIRL #1: Where’s your birthday party at, bitch?
You can’t start a sentence with “and” or “but.”
Did your ninth-grade English teacher warn you about starting a sentence with a conjunction? If so, the reason was not that the construction was grammatically incorrect; he or she was just trying to get you to elevate your writing before you hit college. Beginning too many sentences with and or but leads to weak, bland writing. But using such conjunctions sparingly in a document is perfectly legal (unless your ninth-grade teacher is going to read it). If you find yourself using these simple transitions too often, try eliminating each one to see if it was needed in the first place. If some form of transition is needed, try these similar forms:
And: in addition, moreover, furthermore, also
But: however, in contrast
You can’t start a sentence with because.
This imaginary rule was probably developed by teachers trying to prevent their students from creating sentence fragments. If you write a clause starting with because, it’s easy to mistakenly think you have a sentence:
Because it took all afternoon to write the new proposal.
That fragment looks like a complete sentence because it has a subject and verb; however, it doesn’t express a complete thought. But why is because the only forbidden word? Why not although, when, while, after, if, and a whole host of other words that serve the same purpose? In fact, starting a sentence with because adds sentence variety, a valuable writing technique.
You can’t split an infinitive.
The alleged ban against splitting an infinitive — the word to plus a verb — is another Latin-based idea. In older forms of English, largely rooted in Latin, the infinitive was one word and therefore couldn’t be split. Once the language evolved to include two-word infinitives, writers began splitting, but some grammarians decided that the practice shouldn’t be allowed.
You’ll probably find the rule if you dig up a really old grammar book, but modern ones don’t mention it. If you want to gently split an infinitive, go for it! Your mission is to boldly go where good writers have gone before.
Next time: Everyone agrees that agreement is difficult
REFERENCES
Huddleston, Rodney, and Geoffrey K. Pullum. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Lynch, Jack. The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution Of ‘Proper’ English, From Shakespeare To ‘South Park.’ New York: Walker & Co., 2009.
“A Brief History of English Usage” from Merriam-Webster Inc.
http://ling.kgw.tu-berlin.de/lexicography/data/B_HIST_EU.html
“If you find yourself using these simple transitions too often, try eliminating each one to see if it was needed in the first place.”
In my experience you can remove ‘But’ from the start of any sentence and you’ll find it wasn’t needed. I’ve never found an instance where it changed the meaning of the sentence or improved it in any way. That might just be me, but if I see a sentence like that then I take that word out.
I agree that the transition is often not needed, but some sentences sound better to me with “and” or “but” at the beginning.
I agree. I find it hard sometimes, especially in technical writing and even in fiction, to rewrite a sentence because my teacher strictly prohibits us to start with ‘and’, ‘because’ and blah blah.. it does sounds and feels better in some sentences to begin with these words.
i think it only works in speech since complete and thought out sentences don’t need to start with ands or buts. It gives the sentence an unprofessional sound but that might just be me.
I find, usually, the desire to start with a “but” is because you actually want the clause to be part of the previous sentance, but sometimes the previous sentance is already stacked full of clauses that an additional one would cause convolution. My solution is generally to simplify and break up the previous sentence then add the “but” clause to it.
What annoys me, far more than a sentance starting with “but”, is when people use “but” when they mean “and”. It happens all the time in newspapers and online articles and I find it maddening.
This resonates pretty well with me. I’m taking a writing in the professions class at college right now, and my instructor has gone over much of the same stuff.
Examples, please …
I love this! I think sometimes writing rules can be too stuffy. As long as a sentence makes sense to a reader and flows properly, then sometimes you can throw caution to the wind and break the rules. Yes, following them can make for a more academic sounding sentence, but in reality, we just want information in a way that is accessible to us.
I completely agree! Most of us are generally not writing for academics or business. We’re just writing. As long as we know instances when we need to use these rules I don’t think it matters.
But yes, and I always seldom agree.
Ever since leaving sixth form college I have found myself becoming more and more prone to beginning my sentences with ‘And’ and ‘But’. University gives me such freedom!!! (Haha!)
In school and college the teachers are required to stick to a clear structure of teaching particularly with the English language. What they don’t tell you is that speaking, writing and reading the English language is a constant learning process and so long as you can justify your reasonings for using ‘And’ and the beginning of a sentence it can never be wrong..
All you have to do is look at street lingo, whilst it may be corrected once or twice by aprents and teachers it almost always eventually ctaches on. And who questions it.
Enjoyed reading this post very much!!!
It’s all about context. If your previous sentence makes a point that is the opposite of the point you’re about to make, using “but,” “however,” “on the other hand,” etc., is probably advisable.
I love this. I’m a current English major and you would not believe the ridiculous rules I have been fed by English teachers over the years.
Great post. As a teacher, I find myself rebutting old rules non-stop while balancing that highwire act of maintaining the quality of students’ writing. Now for my lesson on ‘at’, ‘because’ and ‘and’!
I agree. But sometimes it can be used for style rather than grammar. (I also agree “however” could also be used there but the point is made) I enjoy breaking the very rules your post has given license to break. Overall, enjoying the writing and getting information is the point, no?
Thank you for the post. Good Stuff.
Amen! I think students learn lots of these myths in highschool. I spend hours in freshman composition undoing them.
Kathy
I think this simply means that indeed our language is continuously evolving. I mean, the rules are constantly changing so there is no absolute right or wrong in terms of grammar 🙂
While I agree that there is no absolute right or wrong in grammar, observing the conventional rules of grammar fosters communication. I can throw out a bunch of jumbled words, and you may or may not understand my meaning. If I frame those words with grammar, you’ll have a good chance of understanding my meaning. If one has a good command of conventional grammar, one can break those rules effectively. Otherwise, breaking grammar rules can lead others to misunderstanding the intended message, and perhaps to the perception that speaker/writer is dumb.
Am largely in agreement with both these points, language is changing and some guidelines are necessary for communication. However, there are certain types of sentence construction that it might be wiser to avoid when in the presence of we oldies who are totally brainwashed with the misinformation under discussion. Have you ever been listening closely to a speaker and suddenly mentally ‘tripped’ on some verbal construction that came passing by and thus lost the whole thread of the tale? Rule breaking and demythologising are necessary; they freshen-up the living breathing thing that is our language. Clumsy construction can blow lines of communication unless used for dramatic emphasis or to slow down the listening brain while you change gear or theme. Communication = Occasion + Audience is the rule I try to desperately hang on to 😉
“Have you ever been listening closely to a speaker and suddenly mentally ‘tripped’ on some verbal construction…”
Absolutely. There is always a monitor at work in my brain that is noting grammatical and semantic mistakes, and while it is forgiving, it does not forget. The conversation will be forgotten, but the impression formed of the speaker will remain. A good command of grammar lets one articulate ideas and feelings with precision, and the further one strays from good grammar, the more one relies on expletives, meaningless phrases (“like you know”), grunts, confrontation, and exasperation to express oneself.
I think English grammar not difficult, but Spanish grammar is more complicated. Take care, Pattsfun
What I’m saying is more on the time involved. What is wrong right now may be correct in the future but of course, there are outstanding rules as of the moment. 🙂
“I think English grammar not difficult, but Spanish grammar is more complicated. Take care, Pattsfun”–Love it.
HI !!!!
I mean, the rules are constantly changing so there is no absolute right or wrong in terms of grammar I´m right and agree. Take care Pattsfun
Just a guest here, but I’ve got something to say too! I agree mostly with Cathy, but the very fact that grammar is used as a standardized way to develop understanding and coercion between readers and writers points to the other unshakable fact that grammar is quite constant in its being correct. What this “correctness” is, however, is constantly changing. Grammar is, simply put, the systematic description of syntax, word usage, and language structure. When we take this definition into account, it is only natural for a description to mold itself into what it is describing. The description follows the described, not the other way around. When systematic “grammar” begins to limit the change and “morphability” of grammar in its very essence, the description ceases to be, as such, a “description”. It becomes a barrier.
Just a guest here, but I’ve got something to say too! I agree mostly with Cathy, but the very fact that grammar is used as a standardized way to develop understanding and coercion between readers and writers points to the other unshakable fact that grammar is quite constant in its being correct. What this “correctness” is, however, is constantly changing. Grammar is, simply put, the systematic description of syntax, word usage, and language structure. When we take this definition into account, it is only natural for a description to mold itself into what it is describing. The description follows the described, not the other way around. When systematic “grammar” begins to limit the change and “morphability” of grammar in its very essence, the description ceases to be, as such, a “description”. It becomes a barrier
Ah, the preposition joke… favorite of all time. Great post, I love to break grammar rules and I love having the backup!
It is always wrong to use a preposition to end a sentence with.
‘Poor grammar is something up with which I shall not put.’ A correct but insanely pedantic use of grammar rules. 😉
Awesome and smart reasoning! Thanks for posting and congrats on being freshly pressed!
I didn’t realize I had made Freshly Pressed until I saw your comment. I wondered why I suddenly had a sharp spike in the number of hits! Thanks.
Very informative, and surprising, that all these ‘mistakes’ were after all NOT ‘mistakes’!! I wish I could send this to my English teacher, and the next time she deducts my marks, I have some poof!!:D
Congrats on being fp!
Thanks. I hope your teacher – and others – read the post!
Print it out and give it to her! Or email it to her (this way you have a paper trail)!
As a college student, I realized a lot of the “nevers” learned in high school wasn’t completely true. However, formal writing usually do not contain these points either (e.g. starting a sentence with “because,” ending with a preposition). I think it would be better to say that you can do these things if you wish to, but avoid it if you want to sound more sophisticated.
I agree that some conventions are best left aside when writing formally, but I respectfully disagree on the “because” rule being one of them. Especially in formal writing, complex sentences – including those starting with “because” – contribute to the tone and variety of the sentences.
Feels good to be relieved from the guilt!
Thanks!! 🙂
Good post. I find myself spending far too much time trying to rework a sentence as to not end it with a preposition. 99% of the time, I end up doing so anyway.
I majored in English in college and it’s good to see that these myths are being brought into daylight and examined.
My rule, when it comes to writing and speaking, is to not do anything that makes me look stupid. I find that following that simple rule helps me navigate the waters of syntax without having to concentrate too hard on swimming.
I look forward to looking at the rest of your posts!
Nice image about swimming. I guess English majors are the lifeguards.
Great post. I still admonish myself as I write my blog. In fact, I sound just like my Catholic school’s nun… Regarding ending with a preposition, one of my favorite movie lines, from “Beavis and Butthead Do America”
Agent Bork – Chief, you know that guy whose camper they were whacking off in?
Agent Fleming – Bork, you’re a Federal Agent. You represent the United States government. Never end a sentence with a preposition.
Agent Bork – Oh, uh… You know that guy in whose camper they… I mean, that guy off in whose camper they were whacking?
http://www.foodandwinehedonist.com
Wow – writing wisdom from Beavis and Butthead! Who knew?
Thank you for this! I obsessively edited my first WordPress blog yesterday no less than 60,000 times. I wish I had come across this great read first!
I hope my posts will help in the future. Congrats on your new blog.
Ooh! I love this post! I often start sentences with “because” and now I have the justification to keep doing it! 😉
Fantastic post and congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
I knew it!
This is a great post. I especially like the example from the greeting card 😉
Thank you! This was a very informative read!
Love this…. I often wondered where these rules came from!
I like to delete when i revise. One of my common deletions occur with prepositional phrase at the end of sentences.
They seem to hang there. I also search for “ing” a common indicator of passive tense.
On my hit list is are the words really, just and very.
Oh and about old information becoming obsolete, Scientists were sure there could be no life on earth without sunlight.
The world remains the same, they just change their minds about how it works.
As a grammar nerd, I loved your post! But as a regular person, I still thought your post is where it’s at.
Trailing prepositions are the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put!
I love that you began a sentence with a conjunction in your example!!
♫♪ Because the world is round, it turns me on. ♫♪
Microsoft Word’s grammar checker is a real pain about split infinitives. Grr!!
Great post! Thanks! As we recently read on FP, we should all focus less on rules and more on grit.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I am going to tweet this, share it on FB, and keep it handy for all those times I am met with skeptical looks when I try to assure my clients that indeed, these things CAN be done. And sometimes they need to be!
I appreciate your support!
I always knew those rules didnt make any sense at all. I just altered my writings to the teachers preference to get a good grade. Now that I am no longer in school I do not follow these silly rules that inhabit us creatively. However, I stiil try my best not to start a sentence with a preposition. lol
Thank you for such a wonderful and necessary post! Most of the great works of Literature are laden with what are technically speaking grammatical errors. Thank God no one told Woolf, Joyce, or Proust not to end their sentences with prepositions — or perhaps they just didn’t listen!
thanks for this useful information!
I know, I know…. but I still can’t bring myself to split an infinitive, and I do try to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition unless it makes the construction really awkward. But I have no problem beginning a sentence with a conjunction!
Thanks for this post!
Wonderful post. When I was a freshman at university and learned these fabulous tips from professors, I didnt want to believe it. I was almost afraid to apply this ‘new’ way of writing because I had been trained to obey the grammar rules highschool teachers had imbedded in our minds. Thank you for demystifying this writer’s myth.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is the first time I have felt motivated to comment on another post. It’s amazing how we need permission to break the so-called rules.
I’m flattered that I moved you to post a comment. All the comments on this post have made me realize I need to spend more time commenting on other blogs.
It wasn’t until recently that I learned you could use And to begin a sentence. I fought it for a while but finally decided to give it a try and if anything, it’s helped my writing. I really enjoyed your post, thanks!
Thanks for writing about this! I’ve felt confident in breaking all these rules (and never been graded down for it) but nobody has actually ever uttered (or written) the words “these things are okay to do.”
I like such rules. When I understand them completely, I can break them really well:) So – big thanks for explanations!
Where’s your birthday party at, bitch?
I’ve never heard of the first rule about prepositions. Was it really so? How was it supposed to be with question “Where are you from?”
I guess Dryden would have said, “From where do you originate?” Apparently he rewrote his own published works to get rid of all the sentence-ending prepositions once he decided they were wrong.
🙂 the world is full of linguist weirdos 🙂
Thanks for a wonderful post
I make those ‘mistakes’ too, and so do professional journalists.
This is so true! I’m in my last year of university and have learned to disregard everything I learned in secondary school english, except for spelling and grammar.
I do try to not end sentences with prepositions. feel like I’m stretching my mind more when I find another way to end the sentence.
Excellent review! Don’t you ever wonder how non-English speaking people learn to speak and write our language? There are so many rules and so many anamolies. Congrats on being FP’D!
http://www.howthehelldidienduphere.wordpress.com
I’m currently tutoring my brother English and he always tells me ‘you can’t use because to start a sentence’ and when I tell him that you can it just spins him out. This post is excellent. Hopefully teachers will learn that the rules for grammar, spelling and word usage have changed over time and that the older grammar ‘skills and drills’ books are becomming slowly redundant over the newer ones.
Thank you for this post! I feel free to break writing rules that restrict the voice or point I am trying to convey. And, I like fragments.
I love reading posts about rules of writing. It’s so easy to get into bad habits and these reminders are important.
I also teach and find myself having to work against these “rules.” Thank goodness there are other teachers out there trying to help students become better writers. Keep fighting the good fight!
I often wonder how these rules sneak into high school classes. Don’t the teachers notice the conspicuous absence of the “rules” from the textbooks? Do they take it upon themselves to correct the “omission”?
UHUH! GREAT! I graduated in English Literature from Fairfield University in CT. My professors were not sticklers about grammar, however, they did emphasize creative sequencing. Words are words in any language. One does not need grammar to be understood. A massive vocabulary is of ultimate value in any language. The substance is greater than the content! Thanks for the upgrade.
A massive vocabulary isn’t worth much if you can’t put the words together well. It’s like having great materials (stone, wood, etc.) but no foundation or girders, wiring, or plumbing to construct the building. Unless you’re very lucky, it won’t function properly.
I don’t know what “the substance is greater than the content” means. What is the difference between substance and content?
Lots of vocabulary with no grammar will result in more communication than correct grammar with very little vocabulary. But the accuracy of communicating without grammar will be suspect. Since the listener/reader is required to extract meaning from the jumble of words, what is extracted may very well be different than what the speaker/writer intended to communicate.
Rules are always meant to be broken. Especially the ones that snobby Brits made up hundreds of years ago.
There are NO snobby Brits mosselicker, let me assure you of that.
It’s just that we happen to know we are smarter than everyone else – as everyone agrees we are.
I’m going to tell my English teacher on you…
Oooh also, you don’t need two spaces after a period! That rule’s gone now.
I heard that one was based on old typewriter fonts, which is no longer necessary with the current fonts.
This is all “in context” though. I write regularly at work, and AR 25-50 is very specific about format and sentence structure. They require two spaces after a period, so I do for Army memos. They also do not allow passive voice. Certainly, you should use that sparingly, but there is a time and place for the passive voice to be used.
Time and place for everything.
lol yeah, like when politicians “admit” to things: “Mistakes were made.”
I love the birthday party bit.
I remember my English teacher said (very stubbornly and arrogantly) that you can’t start a sentence with moreover//furthermore etc. LIES. Philosophers and real writers do it! Must be right. Ppfft haha
My English teacher’s number one rule, written on the blackboard (that’s what they used back then) at the beginning of each semester, was: “Eschew obfuscation.” What more do you need to know?
I also uses But & And in the begin of the sentences often, but not very often. I think as long as the sentence is having a conclusion part, we can safely start the sentence with ‘Because’ or ‘Since’ to be meaningful.
Thank you for this, I feel much better about my writing now! 🙂
Well presented! I’m a journalism major and this certainly helped me!
– Lisa
BitchinRants.Wordpress.com
LisaaLinh.Wordpress.com
I try so hard not to end sentences with prepositions, but I find that it often makes me sound pretentious! For example: Where does that pear come from? vs. From where does that pear come? I can’t even imagine saying the second one out loud without some sort of accent!
Congrats on being FP 🙂
What you say in conversation is generally less formal than what you write. There should be (and there is) more latitude to break rules in conversational English. If you look at actual transcripts of casual conversations, you will see that there is a whole lot of communication that occurs in conjunction with a whole lot of ruptured grammar.
Even better if you say, “From whence does that pear come?” Throw a Halloween costume in the mix!
This is useful, considering I don’t remember any grammar I learned in high school.
Great post!
This is a great blog post, and very true! It drives me crazy how many lies teachers tell us in elementary and high school. On the other hand, I do understand why they do it. It’s easier to make up rules than to explain why things happen.
There are other examples, so it’s not just in grammar. In math when first learning to subtract, you are told that you can’t subtract a larger number from a smaller number. It makes sense to teach it this way because it makes the concept easier to understand, and the children haven’t learned about negative numbers yet. However, it’s not true! In art we are told that the primary colors are red, blue, and yellow, when in reality the primary (additive) colors are red, green, and blue, and the primary (subtractive) colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow. Red, blue, and yellow are just called primary colors to make it easier for kids.
[…] Lisa Muzaffar Kusko tells it like it is here. The old school arbitrary “rules” of English really stick in the mind. I still find myself as I write fiction, struggling over these. Even in my MFA a professor pointed out that “He runs like he’s being chased by the devil” should be “He runs as though he is being chased by the devil.” But I prefer the latter and so apparently does Rick Riordan. You’ll have to read his books if you don’t believe me. […]
Did you mean “the former” instead of “the latter”?
Thanks. I teach English overseas and write, so I really mean it. I long ago discarded these rules anyway, but now I know my instincts were correct. I’ll be following this blog from now on…
Great post! Merci for sharing this. Glad there is some clarity to these “rules” now.
This post is helpful and informative. I won’t say I have the best grammar and it can be somewhat discouraging at times. This was nice to read.
Best,
Amanda
http://bullfrogsandbulldogs.wordpress.com/
Good stuff! Very helpful!
Oh yes, i remember, my english teacher taught us not to use BUT and BECAUSE to start a sentence.. anyway, i often do that and i guess it’s quite acceptable when writing informal letters, on tweets, on social pages, but its a big NO NO in business correspondents.. nice and informative post..
I actually think it’s a good ideas to incorporate these “myths” into English class in middle and high school. While they may not be official rules, they are great to encourage students to think about the words they are using. There’s nothing more annoying than a piece where every other sentence starts with ‘and’ or ‘but’. But, I also think that toward junior and senior year, students should be encouraged to look for writers that don’t adhere to these myths and then experiment themselves.
What struck me was the fact some of these rules stem from Latin. Since English speakers who also spoke Latin must have been relatively few, that would mean most English speakers spoke improperly.
Of course, they probably didn’t do much if any reading or writing, but still.
We had the “where’s your party at, bitch?” birthday card at a store i once worked at, and every time i saw it i laughed. no joke is better than a language joke that plays on words! good post.
Really great blog. I never end sentences with a preposition, but that’s just personal preference. I’m happy to add another grammatical website to my reading list!
I laughed out loud at the GIRL #1 sentence, and everyone in the room stared at me. I shouted back, “Because it ends in a preposition!!” Then I started laughing even -louder- because I started a sentence with because. I’m so weird… Thank-you for proving what I’ve been telling people for years.
Yes, I laugh every time I see that card.
What I find interesting is to compare these “rules” with the way similar situations are treated in other languages, but for now, to illustrate one of your points, I lend you a Beatles lyric:
“Because the world goes ’round, it turns me on.”
This sentence is complete because the first clause modifies the second.
“where’s the birthday party at, bitch?”
maybe not the best way to teach grammar to kids. Once they’ve had their mis-education, an eye opener like this will be something to go for!
“Because I said so, that’s why!” And parents everywhere come together to drink to your post.
You have just freed me from some previously unrealised bonds! Thank you!
I need to save your post somewhere and pull out some of those non-rules on a particularly ‘fussy’ friend of mine. While I am a writer, she is an accountant. She likes to follow rules and enjoys telling me off for supposed grammatical errors. I just think I’m writing with a free and easy to read ‘voice’, but to her, I just don’t know or follow all the rules 😉
KL
Indeed, I feel freed too 😀
I was an ESL teacher for Koreans for a year and sadly I told them a lie.
“It is wrong to start a sentence with because”..I didn’t know that it was a lie not until I’ve read this post.Thanks a lot! 🙂
I’ll be starting as an English teacher to high school students next year and, had I not seen this post, I, too, would have told them the lie :/. Yikes. Thankfully I was saved.
Brilliant Post! there is this continuous nagging in my mind when I am writing a post that I can’t start a sentence with because or but. It’s kind of really stressful but I am glad you cleared this up. Although I won’t be using because or but at the start of a sentence, the reason is that many people don’t know that it is not grammatically incorrect and it also looks quite ugly. Maybe that’s just me 😛
Thanks for the tips, I’m 80k words into writing my first novel and continually, doggedly, relentlessly hounded by the ghosts of English teachers past.
Thanks so much for doing your part to help save the English language. As a professional writer, I cringe when I hear things like “me and him” and “more importantly.” My fear is that if we continue to move in this direction, communication will revert to grunting in 100 years.
Congrats on being freshly pressed! Thanks for your kindness for helping people like me. For now on I’ll follow your blog, this is the place where I can get help for my English Language, my English is bad.
i have always loved to break these so called “rules” 😀
Much as I try not to use “at” at the end of a sentence, I did enjoy the way Girl 1 got around the “rule” when called out on it lol.
I don’t like to use “and” or “but” at the beginning of the sentence for the most part. As you mention, there are similar alternatives that sound better.
I think you’re right that the “because” “rule” was invented by teachers to keep students from writing sentence fragments. It’s probably easier for a teacher just to say “don’t ever do that” then to teach the kids how to properly use the word to start a sentence.
This is fantastic! I’m always looking for ways to improve and was really happy to come across your post. You’re absolutely right, abiding by these lies can make for really awkward and stilted writing. I’d love to see a “Lies your English Teacher Told You 2!” For example can you talk about the whole oxford comma debate? http://tinyurl.com/3dsn68a
I do mention the comma debate in my post “Where the Commas Go,” but I didn’t refer to it as the Oxford comma. I do plan a followup post based on all these comments!
Great tips. I figure it’s like the old adage (or whatever) “learn the rules so you can break them.” Neither of these grammatical “rules” are absolute but, like you said, make sure you need to use the preposition at the end or And to start the sentence.
Great post. Teachers are rarely writers in my experience.
GIRL #1: Where’s your birthday party at?
GIRL #2: Never end a sentence with a preposition.
GIRL #1: Where’s your birthday party at, bitch?
. ahahaha.. soooo funnny! 😀
very informative!
http://letscriticize.wordpress.com
informative, yes!
NIce
Because I like this post, I will share a secret with you: for as long as I can remember, I have boldly split infinitives at will. And I have no intention of stopping!
confessionsofacatwoman.com
I’ve been ignoring these rules for years! I’m sure I was just ahead of the game.
Re the never end with a preposition rule: “This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put!” (attrib. Winston Churchill)
Fun article! I like how these “rules” were made up by bitter men with dead language fixations. I also liked ” that guy off in whose camper they were whacking?” lol
I can’t wait to split an infinitive. I’m off to do so now!
thank
This strikes a cord with me because not only am I a writer, but I also feel like schools are narrow-minded. In school, its all about discipline & order… “Teaching” gets lost! I will admit I don’t have a perfect solution or any worthwhile suggestions right now, but I still want to acknowledge that its not working.
I also think writing is about expression… and we can use words and punctuation as we choose. And, express exactly what we are saying how we want- despite what the “rules” say!
Now, where is my drink at? 🙂
What an awesome blog! I’m an English teacher living in Chile and the students are constantly asking me questions about rules in English and where they come from. Definitely plan to follow!
Andri Alfansyah reblogged this on Andri Alfansyah's Blog.
[…] College English Tutor Lisa Muzaffar Kusko writes: “As a college English instructor, I continually have to remove writing myths from my students’ bra…“ […]
Here’s a fun fact:
The standardization of grammar/spelling came into being because some dude back in the day spelled the word “fish” as “ghot”.
That’s because some English words use “gh” instead of an “f”, like enough, rough, laugh…
And in the word “women”, the “o” is pronounced as an “i”.
And in “transition”, “evolution,” “recreation” and loads of other words, the “t” is pronounced as an “sh”.
😀
That is funny!
It’s spelled with an “i,” –> “ghoti” 🙂
If I’m not mistaken, I believe the “dude” who spelled “fish” as “ghot” was George Bernard Shaw, in illustrating a point about spelling.
I stand corrected. Yes, it was “ghoti”.
This write is royal. Thanks. I knew my English teacher was a drama king!
I, too, am a college English Composition professor, with more than thirty years in the teaching profession. Articles like yours, Ms. Kusko, do more damage than most, because instead of being just a student who cannot fathom the necessity for correct grammatical and syntactical and mechanical constructions, you lend the imprimatur of “higher education” to the student attitude about the absurdity of grammatical rules. While I have no real dispute with you regarding beginning sentences with “and” or “but,” I do have to take issue with you regarding the extension of your thinking as it affects the entire structure of the English language. Reading the student responses to your article reinforces my point that they take your status as a college teacher as authority to issue a blank check dismissing grammar entirely, I doubt if you mean that, but it is the logical extension of your position. You need to put out a serious of caveats regarding your particular predilections about grammar,
I have yet to find a grammar or writing book that contradicts my research, and I certainly never said grammar rules are absurd! In fact, at my school, I am probably the harshest grader when it comes to grammar because many younger English instructors are taught not to teach or grade for grammar.
Wow, this is like a presidential debate. I expected one of you to accuse the other of highering illegal aliens.
Certainly, knowing proper grammar is important. Even the stuffy rules which are commonly violated in common speech. When you are writing for yourself or publication, dynamic, engaging writing is probably more important than strict grammar. When you are writing for college, grammar and style are probably going to be paramount. If your facebook posts and English papers are identical you are wrong.
In the Army we say that you “learn what right looks like”. Telling an elementary school student these rules are wrong is like giving a teenager birth control pills with no explanation of STDs. Telling a student with an AA or BA that grammar rules are made to be broken is entirely different.
Memorandums and short stories are different writing styles and grammar should be adjusted accordingly.
And be careful not to argue too much — you may be nominated for president.
Wow. Relax.
I heartily disagree with you, Mr. Bennett. Ms. Kusko’s point was obviously that language is largely affected by context, and one should therefore be careful not to cling to strict, one-size-fits-all rules in the face of practical considerations. I hope you’re not so caught up in being a rules despot within your own classroom that you stifle your own students the way you attack a colleague for thinking differently than you.
Sorry of the omission of the word “series” after the word “serious” in the last sentence,
WooHoo and Hurray!!! Thanks for the clarifications!!
But sometimes, you do need to bend the rules. Because rules are meant for breaking! And they’re not always applicable, anyway…
=D See what I did there?
Great post!
Middle school teachers are always raging about what was and wasn’t taught in elementary, just as high school teachers are always complaining about middle school teachers. I guess it is the same for college but let us not forget, without each preceding teacher, where would our students be? Certainly not in a college English class. Besides, I think some of your points are outdated such as beginning a sentence with because. I believe, me included, that most high school English teachers use a well known method of teaching the proper construct of two part sentences. We teach words or phrases that signal dependent clauses and should be followed by a comma and an explanatory independent clause. Because is one of those signal words so you must not be getting any of my students in your classes. My biggest pet peeve of ridiculous writing methods taught in junior high would have to be starting an essay with a question. It seems to take all four years of high school to break them of that habit, but at least at that point, they can begin to write meaningful content.
Surely, the conjunct “Because” has the ability to do what you have suggested. But there are some words that end up doing different things and serving different functions like the syntactic Expletive. Take the word “Why” for example in the following sentence: “Why, Thank you!”. Grammarians always have trouble finding absolute functions. While your “beginning any prolegomena with a question” worry seems to be accurate, prima facie, I think it depends on the semantic content and purpose of the question… Some writers introduce a question then answer it, sometimes the Question indirectly gives the reader a heads up on what the Essay is about.
It also seems like there is dispute with the definiendum without critical analysis of the definiens…
Fun Article I must say hope i may be write some great contents as like yours ..
Since young people text these days, it seems to me that all the “rules” of proper writing have, to be cliche, “gone out the window.” These days, with writing, ANYTHING goes! And I’m fine with that. Look, I just started a sentence with And and the world didn’t end. Haha!
Hi
lovely,darling post..but we need to thank our English Teachers see how im still so scared…but good they taught us the rules so they can be broken…But 🙂 in my dreams they also yell about my proofing!!
Thanks for the post
Because of this post I want to to boldly write what no writer has ever written before.
Great post! Except I can’t remember what a split infinitive is…
Oh wait, I know! “To boldly go where no man has gone before…” It turns out I love splitting me some infinitives.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Were it not for your informative post I would have gone on believing those myths were actual rules!
Thanks..this makes me feel better ;). I look forward to more advice!
I loved this post! I am an English major finishing up my senior year and my grammar is less then desirable. I hadn’t taken a grammar class since middle school, so I signed up to take one this semester. Coincidentally, it’s with a teacher who doesn’t think that grammar should be taught. We have been talking about these issues in class and doing Skype sessions with editors and other professionals who work with the English language, and it’s fascinating to hear people’s different views on grammar issues. So when I stumbled across this post, I really appreciated it!
I always thought rewording sentences that ended in prepositions seemed awkward and strange that I only did it if it made sense. Now I know! Thanks.
I wish you were my teacher. 🙂
Every university must have a teacher like you. Great post! 🙂
Great post! I’m no grammar expert, but I do enjoy good grammar. I often start sentences with “and” or “but” and always felt a little guilty about it, but it feels necessary to me in some situations. It’s like it emphasizes the second thought, almost like “and” or “but” should be italicized. And I do like italics! 😉
I wish you had been my teacher in high school! I had a teacher that didn’t let us use a single to-be verb in our papers…I understand minimizing, but seriously…is using the word “are” or “is” that awful?
http://howficklemyheart.wordpress.com
I also had a teacher who banned “to be.” I admit that the restriction made me work harder to improve my verb choice, but in the end I always had a few sentences that didn’t say exactly what I wanted them to say because what I wanted to say was “is.”
Ahh good info! Being a creative writing student myself, I find myself lost between the “grammar rules” taught in school and what actually works for writing short stories or non-fiction pieces. Ughh, I’m still debating whether or not there’s a correct way to write a sentence.
Since I’ve started blogging, I have thrown any rules that I remember out the window. I do love to write, but never quite got that grammer thing down. ;-0
I’ve been breaking these rules all these years and now I know why
not for tourists:
http://www.cityarbiter.wordpress.com
Could you please tell Microsoft Word and the designers of the creators of the British Columbian Language Proficiency Index? The supposed evil of the split infinitive especially makes me batty!
Because I liked this Post I wanted to tell you how much I liked your Post.
(Correct that sentance – and spelling!)
Glad you brought the and and the but to my attention. I was just beginning to feel comfortable using them at the beginning of sentences.
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Brilliant post, there’s a similar argument to be had for punctuation, do grammatical rules for punctuation if you get them wrong really hinder the meaning of your sentence? No!
It might not drastically hinder the meaning, but it certainly affects the flow of the reading. When correct punctuation is not used, I often find that I need to read the sentence one or two more times to get it right.
Good punctuation clarifies your meaning and helps the reader decipher your thought. Why would you opt for bad punctuation and thus leave your thought open to misinterpretation?
Ah, what a relief to not have to follow these made-up conventions any longer! I’ve always especially had a problem with the splitting infinitives one. Now I’m going to crazily split my infinitives like there’s no tomorrow — see what I did there? 😉 Hehe.
Brilliant article!
My long deceased mother, an english teacher said, “You can break the rules of writing if you know the rule and know why you are breaking it.”
Thanks for such a great post! I often break these rules in my writing, and it’s amazing how many non-English majors I know that will freak out. I guess it’s because no one re-taught them the things we learned when we were young. Still, thanks for pointing these out, and freeing those that already don’t believe these lies from more arguments with those that do!
Bravo! I’m not even sure these myths are taught in high school–they are more on the order of popular legends. They don’t teach grammar in high school these days.
Yes, several high school teachers have posted to say that some of these are taught much earlier than I expected. And sadly, grammar is not emphasized much anymore.
Very interesting article. While I am certainly no wordsmith, I do often question some of the old grammar rules that I was taught growing up. I figure if the flow of the sentence is uninterrupted, then what’s the harm?
I had to think very carefully what a preposition and infinitive were? And I definitely remember being told not to start sentences with and, but and because….thanks for clearing that up!
I’m going to have to look up “infinitive.” And “split infinitive.
Are there any rules for capitalizing for emphasis, the way, for example, italics might be used?
Congrats on FP!
Yes, there are. The rule is simple: don’t. Capitals are used at the start of each separate sentence or question and for proper names (or titles when combined with proper names). Business writing violates this all the time by having arbitrary Words capitalized to make them seem more Important and Official. (I used to have to edit them out and occasionally argue about them with the business people who submitted them for editing, so it became a pet peeve of mine.)
Exceptions are made in poetry (i.e., e.e. cummings didn’t use capitals) and for sentence fragments that are part of a discontinuous thought (or to relay conversation/dialogue that is broken).
I hope that helps.
This is great information. Given that our English language has evolved with culture and technology, it’s good to see that there are still better ways to communicate.
As a speaker of English as a foreign language, I find these rules pretty akward. Never heard of them. The only one that possibly contaminated the L2 teachers is the one about starting the sentence with “and” and “but” and I think they did that for the same reason of the ninth grade teachers: improve vocabulary range.
We CAN split infinitives? This will save me a lot of time in my writing!
Love it! Great post. To me there is a difference between good writing and slavish adherence to grammar. Language does evolve, sometimes quite qucikly, and in any event, strict ‘grammar lawyers’ are usually not good writers! It’s the difference between knowing the rules and creativity.
Matthew Wright
http://mjwrightnz.wordpress.com
http://www.matthewwright.net
I learned most of the these myths in high school. Then I got to college and no one cared about most of these taboos. As long as I followed basic grammar and my essays were entertaining I could get away with just about anything!
Haha!! Awesome one!! We ought to tell these grammer nazis that writers like Woolf have been hailed as one of the greatest of the last century and yet, she used a grammatically unique style of writing, quite divorced from teh conventional styles. I often do experiments with sentence structures and it’s fun to come up with an alternate way juxtaposing the words without legally erring. It is, thus, important that we should deliver the truth from such myths as you mentioned!
Thanks for awesome post.
As it is, I couldn’t refrain from making some blasphemous mistakes myself in that comment above 😀
Some of the very basic sought-after clarifications on things that we thought were rules. Very nice post.
I don’t like ending with a preposition if I can help it – “with which” sounds better than ending with “with”. However sometimes it just sounds ridiculous not to. You have to use your judgement.
*Because* of my primary school teacher, I was so determined to break all the rules when I went to secondary school that I wrote a bunch of stories which I thought were really rebellious and stuff, but actually they were just better written. Yes, I started that sentence with ‘because’.
This is one of the most refreshing pieces I’ve read recently. I’ve been writing for well over fifty years, and had the distinction of having Miss Callie Allison, who taught Mr. Chet Huntley his high school English, my high school English. I can’t say that I ever had a great deal of respect for most of the “rules” of writing. If it gets the thought across and isn’t ambiguous, then it accomplishes the purpose.
I’ve always written in a conversational manner, as though I were speaking, and that’s good enough for me. With respect to the rule about not starting a sentence with a conjunction, it might sound like a great rule, if the writing involved was just a stand-alone sentence. However, most sentences are not islands, standing alone on a piece of paper, and most generally relate to a previous sentence, or one to follow. Having a link either backward or forward to another separate thought just makes good sense. That’s really why we have conjunctions, isn’t it?
Excellent article! The example you cite, of Dryden castigating Jonson, should show that there are have always been pedants of language and probably always will be. Communication is about precisely that: communication. We learn grammar rules in order to learn how to effectively construct our language in a way that is intelligible and clear – and then, once we’ve mastered the rules, how to break them artfully. You’ve raised the call to intelligent, non-slavish writing!
I just saw the tile of the most recent post to your blog on the wordpress.com home page, and, boy am I glad that I did.
You take the intimidation out of business writing that prevents a lot of folks from putting pen to paper — err, showing my age — I mean, fingers to keyboard.
I especially like how honest you are about the so-called authorities and the conflicts among them.
Good post. Great site. Keep writing.
REPOST:
Missed the second letter ‘t’ in the word title. (BTW: The ‘t’ that I just typed should be italicized, correct?)
I just saw the title of the most recent post to your blog on the wordpress.com home page, and, boy am I glad that I did.
You take the intimidation out of business writing that prevents a lot of folks from putting pen to paper — err, showing my age — I mean, fingers to keyboard.
I especially like how honest you are about the so-called authorities and the conflicts among them.
Good post. Great site. Keep writing.
If you can’t make italics, quotes are fine! Thanks for your comment.
Great post! I’m an english teacher myself, here in London and I always tell my children that using And or But at the beginning of a sentence is their poetic licence…creativity is subjective 🙂 Thank you for sharing x
Awesome! That’s some good advice that I can use in my writing. Congrats on FP! Cheers.
Like.
thank you for your permission to split the infinitive!
Dude! Using “And” at the beginning of a sentence isn’t cool except in Poetry!
Don’t rank on us English Tutors/Teachers, we’ve hard enought time representing as it is! I prefer “the King’s English” even to this day as a reference point. But kudos on gettiing Pressed like a freshly printed Oxford dictionary.
Mr. Achilliad,
If you really are a Tutor / Teacher of the English Language I intend to immediately give up my British (English) Citizenship and move to the Planet Zog.
AND let me assure you there would be NO tolerance for words such as “dude, cool, kudos” nor for the word as you spelt it “e-n-o-u-g-h-T” in what you refer to as the King’s English.
AND by the way we currently have a Queen on the Throne – so “long dead the King” – DUDE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[…] Reference : https://lisakusko.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/lies-your-english-teacher-told-you/ […]
start at the 3:30 mark. i think you may like it http://youtu.be/T_G_9GbndG0
I am Chinese and am learning English. Your post is helpful for me and I have learned much.
Thanks.
I should tell my English teacher that! 😉
Hallelujah, someone else who doesn’t agree with the teachers of old! Thanks bu coos.
As far as ending a sentence with a preposition, it has always seemed clumsy. If I am not mistaken, English is a Germanic language. German LOVES ending sentences with prepositions, and I was under the impression we are a lot closer to German than Latin. German even has names for these verbs. Usually, they are called separable verbs, but anyone who has ever tried to learn how to use them probably has much more colorful terms for them. When I was trying (unsuccessfully) to learn German, I often lamented when Die Train kommen auf that it would be much less painful to stand on the tracks in front of the departing train than try to understand how to say it in German.
Interesting perspective. Thanks!
Maybe I had a “bad” education, but I’ve heard of all these “rules” only by hearsay. (I’m in my fifties, U.S. public schools & university) They all sound like nonsense. Don’t know who was actually taught them, by whom.
I do have my own little peeves about how language is used, though:
http://kitchenmudge.wordpress.com/tag/language/
Our daughter had to rewrite an entire essay, because it was not written “correctly”…. it was demoralising for her, as she had put so much hard work into the assignment.
My nephews told me they were penalized for starting sentences with “because.” That’s one of the reasons I wrote this post.
i with u….. dont be stupid
This was a great article..very true. I let go all of the English grammar learnt before college.
http://embraceyoumag.com
You have actually made an interesting post on english grammar. Huzzah! And they even freshly pressed you for it. Bravo.
All those agonizing college terms when I was told to be strictly observant of the proper syle of writing… and then informed I was too structured, too constricted, i.e., “stuffy”. It was enough to drive one to the brink. So I read good poets and fine novelsists to get more more clues. Now–aeons later– I write within reasonable parameters but in between them, let the river of words flow! Thanks for the post and the latest info!
Wow! Great post! Y’know how many times I’ve been bashed against Walls for the whole ‘And/Because/But thing…? But If I know what sounds right, I’ll take the beating!! 😉
I love this post. AND it couldn’t be more true.
I often find myself, when blogging, breaking all kinds of those alleged English rules, mostly for dramatic effect. BUT I find when I’m writing a piece that is supposed to be “professional” or “polished,” I’ll be a little more careful with how I throw my words around.
Very informative post, thanks for sharing!
thank you for this one. Nobody owns English. Simple as that.
Do you still think Proper English still really matters..? I dont think so as the world has evolved to a set of global type of English language where there are no rules. Just express yourself with whatever means you can
It is not necessary to use “proper” English all the time, but good or even decent English is a must. The internet, as much as I love it, has made this worse. No one could publish anything that wasn’t generally free of errors and able to be understood.
I’m not talking about split infinitives and dependent clauses.
The worst thing people do is that they don’t believe in punctuation and say whatever they feel like the would maybe like to and have extra words thrown in that you don’t really totally need and stuff or maybe there speling is horibel or thet camt type goood
I get typos, syntax errors, even run-on sentences. It happens, and some well-known, well-respected authors publish books with many of them (Stephen King, Anne McCaffrey, even my copy of Atlas Shrugged). There is saying what you mean in a way that is individual and easy to you, and there is being so horrible at English that no one can easily understand what you mean.
The point of all language is communication. When a person’s English is so bad that they are spewing words that make no sense or are not understandable, that is bad English.
Yes, I agree with you – often communication is hindered when a writer doesn’t follow the rules.
If one wanted to use “Proper English,” one would rarely (if ever) refer to oneself in the First Person.
I occasionally make grammatical mistakes (there’s even one in my response below), and have an occasional typo.
I even argued with my teacher that “archaeology” was a proper spelling of the word when I was in junior high. When she stated that she always used the dictionary to check her spelling (this was in the 1970s before the Internet was widely available), I countered with the argument that if I didn’t know how to spell the word, how could I look it up in the dictionary?
After going through this article i actully realized that i dont even know a bit of english! lol! 😀
Im a 14yr old tech blogger: http://www.thetechnogeeks.wordpress.com
My mother is a retired teacher who stressed proper grammar and syntax at home, even in verbal communication. So, regarding prepositions, if my brother or I said something like, “where is it at?” she would always reply, “behind the ‘at’.” Now, as an adult who ended up majoring in English, I understand that it’s sometimes acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition, but I’ve definitely been conditioned against the unnecessary “at.”
I am a frequent user of “Behind the ‘at’.” Rarely do people know what I mean, but it makes me giggle. Of course, if anyone asks, I explain, but most people don’t. And if I find someone who already gets it, we share a grammar-nerd in-joke. It’s like finding a kindred spirit!
nice. well explained. 🙂
NICE! I had a good laugh – my English teacher was nice but always yelling at me to pay attention 🙂
Congratulations on being freshly pressed.
Kind regards, Ilse
Sentences CAN end in a proposition? Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! You took away some of my guilt. No more giving myself what for. Now I can work on my spelling.
— CC
Love the blog. As a newbie to linguistics I am certainly hoping that ALL my teachers are bluffing. That would make my course so much easier…
Really great points Lisa!
However, you can’t end a sentence with a preposition.
Perhaps you should say, “However, a sentence is something you can’t end a sentence with.” Ha! Ha!
I mean, “A presposition is something you can’t end a sentence with!”
Yes but Sir, in your philosophy you would also say that you can’t eradicate certain illnesses by using tried and tested and proven medicinal remedies either.
AND your radical views are quite clearly demonstrated by your one line sentence in this blog. So I think for the majority of us we should just ignore it and consider it not to be put up WITH.
Toodle Pip.
Aw, c’mon! English adds new words from other languages constantly. Now you say you don’t think we should follow other languages’ grammar rules?! Man, you’re being snobbish. If we can coopt their vocabulary, why not their grammar?
Thanks for this post! Now the Grammer Police have to drop their case against me.
I recall reading somewhere that Winston Churchill once said, “Ending a sentence with a presposition is something up with which I will no longer put.” A perfect example of your point about awkward sentence structure. There are also plenty of speeches that include the split infinitive, “To further illustrate my point…”
I don’t think your advocating poor writing, but I agree that some of the old rules have become outdated.
The story about Winston Churchill is that he had been criticized by his detractors that he couldn’t even master basic grammar in the articles he wrote. They cited examples of him ending sentences with prepositions. His response to them was, “This is just the sort of nonsense, up with which I shall not put,” pointing out the silliness of the criticism against him. I think that’s pretty funny.
We must remember that the “rules” of writing are simply conventions based on usage, meaning we try to copy what works for those who are the most
successful. Over time, language usage changes. Perhaps you can imagine how awkward it is for older folks like me, who use rules of writing they learned a half a century ago to communicate in a changed, new world.
Where’s the new copier at?
Out of any preposition that I’ve heard people put at the end of a sentence, “at” irritates the senses the most.
In most cases, the word “at” isn’t even necessary for the sentence to make sense in the first place. The inclusion of unnecessary words is what annoys me the most.
In some cases, the preposition is part of a two-word noun:
“The game was a blow out.”
“Do a chin up.”
You can add “s” in such instances and make the preposition plural (blow outs and chin ups). To alter the grammar to avoid ending with a preposition creates an awkward sentence:
“A chin up is what you must do.” So better to end with a preposition in such cases.
Can i put preposition at the beginning of the paragraph?
I don’t see why not. Here’s an example:
Of all the plants in the world, the lilac is my favorite.
Too true. I was thrown into a conundrum when I first read Mrs Dalloway, and since realised that free-flowing writing style is just as effective at communicating as a rigorously structured piece.
As my English teacher used to say, “Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.”
Love the post!
Great post, Lisa. The problem with those old grammar rules is that they’ve been handed down from one generation of English teachers to the next, and many students are still having them drilled into their heads.
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
Very factual one. Yeah, many of us used Ands and Buts to start a sentence and I admit, I’m one of them. Nowadays, our daily conversation really affects the proper writing style, which inappropriate to see. We have variety of style in conversation which we should not apply them when we will going to make an article. Anyways, thanks for the information.
I’m guilty!! I loathe sentences that begin with conjunctions. But I’ll survive.
My MIL is a retired English teacher, she will get a kick out of this!
Are you going to dedicate a special post to commas? Those little buggers have rules so seemingly arbitrary and sometimes conditional that I could have dedicated a whole semester to teaching them.
Yes, I already did:
I like to write free form and line of thought… Drives me nuts when I have to draft professional documents. They’re dry and uncreative. This post reminded me just how much English ticks me off sometimes.
http://theworldandherstage.net
[…] Lies Your English Teacher Told You « Easy Tips for Business Writers. […]
in addition, id like to add moreover, is furthermore, also
however someone would explain it, is in contrast to everything your preaching!
you’ve never been “alive” until you lived…outside the “box”..
finally!…keep on preaching, pioneer.
This was a very interesting article! I love writing and English class! This may seem a bit odd being my blog includes brief biology lessons! 😉 Congratulations on making the front page!
I’m reading this article at such a coincidental time! I was just on a website and someone commented on someone else’s comment saying “you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition. It makes people not take you seriously.” Or something close like that. Ridiculous! I enjoyed your post.
Great article. Very helpful. Thanks for posting.
What you say is more important than the way you say it. The art in writing is the expression of thought in a way that clearly expresses the intended meaning to others. I often ignore the rules in order to accomplish this.
Hmmm… I can improve my essays with this. Thanks.
I like this article. I’ve gotta write a lot at my work and this is fun stuff to share – we tend to argue over word forms, sentence structures etc all the time. 🙂
I hate the word grammar checker. When I try these things, it informs me my sentence is a fragment and requires revision despite the fact they consist of a complete sentence.
Well if it bothers you that much, turn the bleedin’ thing off girl – there ya go – job done darling !!
This was a wonderful post and a public service announcement. Our “Women Who Write” group meets twice a month, and each time one of us reads our work there in one retired English professor who hammers home these inane rules.
I remember back in school, a teacher spoke of sentence fragments, saying, “If you understand the grammar is incorrect but you’re using fragments to enhance your story it is fine to use them. Do you agree?
Ronnie
Using deliberate fragments for effect is an accepted “violation” of the rules. In fact, most textbooks tell students about the technique and show examples from professional writers.
Madam,
What an informative post!
So there are some who can are there?
And when did this happen and who taught the little fairies then?
I am most pleased to hear about this matter – I know we allowed them to vote about a hundred years ago but was unaware we let them learn to read.
Wonderful news – ‘pon my soul Ma’am I am most gratified to hear this – times are indeed a changing as the great bard Robert Dylan himself penned.
Oh my goodness, this was hilarious. Thank you for sharing. I saw the title and all I was originally going to add was that the rules seem to depend also on your audience. Agents have written on their blogs that the rules of grammar may be broken if done well, but I wrote a work of fiction, not a report or marketing campaign where I would expect the rules to be more strict.
-Eliabeth Hawthorne
Thanks for the much needed clarification profe. !
The best thing I read about English language this year. It is not my first language, so I could use all the help I get.
I disagree with the “lies” in the title of this post. A lie is an intentionally false statement and I doubt that most English teachers are trying to mislead students while teaching a subject that they are typically passionate about. It seems vogue in our culture to use keywords of forceful or extreme rhetoric in attempt to catch attention because traditional and colloquial English usage seems not adequate enough or is too boring to express a point. These extreme keywords often mis- or overstated to create a feeling that is not dull or quaint. In other words, don’t be dramatic.
The how about
“Misinformation your English Teacher Came Up With”
for a title with a double preposition ending.
: )
For some reason, I couldn’t post a reply to one of your comments earlier in the thread, the one about prepositions that are part of nouns. That’s a good point, and it reminded me of another: prepositions that are part of verbs (called particles.) For example, we hang up a phone. It’s not part of a prepositional phrase; it’s part of the verb.
Although I admit that I changed the title from “Myths” to “Lies” at the last minute for dramatic effect, I don’t think you should discount the deliberate misdeeds that go into the propagation of these myths. First, teachers have to review their textbooks and a) not notice the absence of the rules or b) note the absence, think it’s a mistake, and amend their lessons with the imaginary rules without any research. My blog is not the first to point out these issues. A two-minute Internet search is all it takes to debunk the myths using credible sources.
Second, the teachers then have to go beyond a mere mention of these so-called rules. Trust me, one mention will NOT stick with the students for years the way these rules do. The teachers have to repeat the rules and reinforce them through punitive actions. My nephews in Ohio told me their teachers told them they would be penalized for each sentence that started with “because.”
Finally, the teachers would have to be insulated from their own field in order to believe these myths. If they read great works of literature or even pieces from today’s leading newspaper columnists, they will see these rules being broken. That should be enough to pique their interest to investigate further. So no, I don’t think it’s a conspiracy to defraud our children of their literary education, but it is a serious weakness that needs to be pointed out. And that was the intention of my post.
I am not sure it is true that there is absolutely no rule. Lots of people will say you should not end a sentence with a preposition, though many do. Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 3d edition of 1996, concludes that in most circumstances it is advisable to avoid placing a preposition at the end of a sentence, when it has the appearance of being stranded; and consciously placing it earlier, as in “of which I had already heard” has the advantage of signalling that this is more formal language.
I think that people says all sorts of thing, some of which appears to be incorrect to everyones, some of which is argues to be correct by lots, but which rules we obey send signals to our readers. This “rule” adds to the subtlety of language, and the range of connotations one may communicate.
NOTE FROM LISA: I couldn’t reply to your comment, so I’ll amend yours with my response. I agree that some handbooks contain recommendations regarding placement of prepositions to make sentences smoother and clearer. Obviously, if ending a sentence with a preposition clouds the meaning or disrupts the reading, it should be avoided not as an issue of grammar but of style. And some handbooks still abide by idea that sentence-ending prepositions should be avoided in formal writing. But some teachers are enforcing the idea as a strict rule not to be broken under any circumstances, which isn’t true.
Tip: reply to the earlier post, like this.
I totally agreed to the ‘no rules’ theory in writing. I love to start a sentence with ‘because’, ‘but’ or ‘and’ for the purpose of emphasis. A sentence attracts more attention if you stop the previous segment and give it a fresh start with the appropriate conjunction.
Well done. It is both entertaining and informative.
Very cool information! Well presented and fun to read!
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed. I must refer my English Composition teacher to your post; he recently took points off one of my papers because I ended a sentence with a preposition.
Or maybe I will rewrite the paper and add “bitch” to the end of that particular sentence.
As I mentioned to a previous person who commented, there’s no grammar rule against ending with a preposition, but if the resulting sentence is awkward with the preposition at the end, your teacher might take issue with the sentence as a matter of style. But if your sentence is clear and smooth with the preposition at the end, it should be fine!
Your aticle reminded me of a sketch they did on Collegehumor.com called Grammar Nazis.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6060107/grammar-nazis
Funny!
Thanks for this one. Hilarious!
Lisa:
First:
“GIRL #1: Where’s your birthday party at, bitch?” HA HaH That IS a SCREAM!! Tx, I needed that larf!
But seriously, I agree with you when you say that English is its own language, implying that it evolves. It evolves at different speeds in different societies, I say. American English is the most “fast and loose” version in my opinion.
I’m retired now, from my career in news reporting in Canada. The “bible” for news writers in Canada is the Canadian Press Stylebook. It still prohibits ending sentences with prepositions. And I agree whole-heartedly with that prohibition. A prep-ending just grates on my nerves.
Different strokes, different folks!
Interesting! I checked the two leading American journalism style books, and there is no rule or even a recommendation on the issue of sentence-ending prepositions. I agree that English evolves faster in America – maybe too fast judging by some of the new words being added to the dictionary!
Well Dear Lisa, you see it’s all that snow they have up their in Canada. We here in England haven’t been able to get an official rebuttal sent over to them regards the 1672 Dryden piece sent to old Sam – and as a result the Canadians languish behind, as they tend to do in most other areas.
And by the way in support of our dear Brothers and Sisters in the frozen wilderness of Canada, I do think it very rude of you Americans to have fully completed the reverse side of Mount Rushmore and the four Presidents – and those bottoms you have pointed at the Canadian side are somewhat larger than they should be.
Toodle Pip
While ending a sentence with a preposition is common, it is an indication of sloppy writing. If the writer finds he cannot eliminate the preposition at the end of the sentence, he is guilty of sloppy thinking as well. Every day, as an instructor of Comp II, I read papers which have a total lack of clarity. The student seems to incapable of achieving mental or writing clarity. Communication is the ability to effectively transfer your idea to others. The problem is not the poor preposition; it is the unwillingness to express a thought effectively because the writer lacks the skill or clarity to do so.
I disagree. Some of the best authors have ended sentences with prepositions and still maintained clarity.
that was very clear, nice article. Language is always evolving
thanks
http://www.foundobjectbeachart.wordpress.com
I just bought someone a card with the girl 1 + girl 2 preposition joke. Thanks for the info, as a student it’s always helpful to get some hints on writing etiquette.
it’s funny…there are certain grammatical rules that i strictly adhere to. others, not so much. 🙂 great read!
http://www.icouldntmakethisshitup.wordpress.com
Oh my goodness, someone has told me each of these lies! *shakes head walking slowly away*
Thank you for this post! If only WordPress was accepted as a scholarly resource 😀 Using, ‘and’, ‘but’, and ‘because’ is not considered proper academic language for University assessments. However, (see what I did there? :D) pick up any thesaurus and you can use a word which is just as much a gateway word as the above without losing marks… quite amusing to me really. Here are some of my favourites that I use… I actually keep a list now on hand so I can have quick access to other options:
BUT: In contrast, except, excluding, however, although, nevertheless, nonetheless, yet, in spite of, even though, though.
AND: Furthermore, additionally, in addition, moreover, likewise, what is more, equally, similarly, correspondingly.
How interesting that, ‘but’, is supposedly not acceptable, though, ‘yet’ is… quite strange!
Yes, there is a certain amount of snobbery in academia. “Because” is an equal word to all other subordinate conjunctions, yet it is sometimes banned from the beginning of the sentences. I agree with your alternatives to “and” and “but,” but for certain audiences, those appear stuffy. I never thought about the “but” vs “yet” idea. Interesting point. Maybe the letter “y” sounds more educated than the letter “b.”
I am currently studying information science… they love the stuffyness 😀 Hence why I now keep a list, saves me so much time.
Perhaps “y” is more impressive because it proves you learnt all your “a, b, c’s” hehehe.
Interestingly I got away with copacetic in my last paper, with a comment of, ‘good word use’, hadn’t meant to leave it in there as technically it is slang. But, apparently this is now accepted?
I just checked three dictionaries, and they all say copacetic is “informal.” You shouldn’t have gotten away with it!
[…] reading here about all the lies that by English teachers ever told me, it got me thinking about all the crap […]
I teach my writing students that meaning is the reason for grammar rules. If a writer can get her point across correctly by using a comma properly, then her reader wastes that much less time. a writer may even lose a reader with a misplaced comma or misspelled word. That said, I don’t correct every single grammatical error in my students’ writing. Even journalists and English teachers make mistakes. I’d rather keep them writing than demoralize students with excessive rules. I’ve even been known to grit my teeth and stay silent about using an apostrophe with a plural. Editing- that’s the time to pull out the stylebook.
Yes, I have a hard time editing my own writing sometimes, and I am particularly guilty of starting too many sentences with “and.” I always review my final drafts and remove a few. I think students often don’t understand how bad grammar can interfere with their messages, but as you said, grammar instruction that is too rigid can interfere with their enthusiasm.
[…] Lies Your English Teacher Told You « Easy Tips for Business Writers. […]
What about the increasing use of more than one exclamation mark per sentence. This really bugs me!!!!!
What did your teacher say about compound sentences, complex sentences and compound-complex sentences? There is an article on the “Learn Chinese Weekly” blog site that mentions that the Chinese follow the same rules for such sentences.
Great job!
[…] https://lisakusko.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/lies-your-english-teacher-told-you/ […]
Hey, we must have had the very same English teacher. It took me a couple of graduate degrees to free myself of the stifling legacy of those errant lessons. BTW, I realize I probably shouldn’t begin a sentence with “hey” either . . .
Some of these non-rules especially don’t work when writing humor, and other types of informal writing. Starting a sentence with a conjunction can often make a statement funnier or more powerful. So there.
Very interesting. The split infinitive is, in my teacher’s handbook, the most ridiculous. Why not? All language is flexible. We can bend the rules a bit as long as our intended audience still gets the point.
Keep up the great work! Congrats on being FP
Hah, I love this. I hate how many try to teach hard “rules” that almost everyone forgets or never learns rather than focus on teaching purposeful prose. I did a great grammar poem project in college to try to identify which rules are really needed for what reasons. Nothing worse than boring conventions graced upon us by the literary gods!
When I got to college I swear every English professor told me to forget everything I had been taught. What if that happened in math? “Oh, you’re in calculus now, please forget algebra.” Language is such a weird topic in that way.
I never thought of it that way. That’s why it takes longer to grade an essay than a math test!
subhanallah..beautiful post……….
Great post and congratulations on being Freshly Pressed! Because hopefully people can learn that it isn’t wrong to say that such rules should be ignored. And we can split infinitives so the verb root is not adjacent to the word it is normally next to. =)
Great read. 🙂
BUT isn’t it that is where we are good AT?
Love these myth busters. What about the classic spelling rule ” i before e except after a c ” apparently there are more cases where this is false than when it’s true. Mind blowing.
There are fewer exceptions to the rule when you consider the full rule: “I before E except after C, or when sounding like A as in ‘neighbor’ and ‘weigh’.”
I always thought of everything my ninth grade English teacher taught me more as guidelines. Things that you should typically stay within but if you happen to stray beyond–it can be forgivable. As a poet and creative writer I think of English and any word as a tool to communicate what I wish. A tool to inspire emotions and images within peoples minds. I don’t think that is something you can put rules on. Guidelines are a different story thought.
“You can’t start a sentence with because.”
I’ll confess I’ve lived by this one, but a moments thought show’s that I was wrong!
I wonder if I’ll be brave enough to break the “rule”?
Good post, thanks for writing it.
I simply love Freshly Pressed because it finds marvellous blogs that I’d never stumble upon otherwise. Great post, I’ll be keeping an eye out for more from you!
I break every single one of these rules happily. And I break other ones too! Yes, if it’s a grammar rule, I live to break it. And guess what? People still seem to understand what it is I’m trying to say! But I only break the rules when I’m writing for fun. Normally – for work – I stick to them. Otherwise…
It is irritating when people decide their writing style is good grammar. And then insist that those that do not write like them are ignorant.
I totally agree with you! That’s why it’s called a “style”. Not a writing canon where everyone has to follow how everyone else is writing.
Thank you for this post. I can share it with my friends who say I have bad writing style just because sometimes I start a sentence with “because”. Instant share on FB!
I agree, but I still find myself substituting “also” and “however” for “and” and “but” at the beginning of a sentence.
Thanks for such an informative blog…:)
[…] you’ve been lied to. it’s totally cool to end sentences with prepositions. […]
Obviously this man is not writing about the English language but the American version. It is the same as writing theater because that is American not French. If I may borrow one of your phrases, DOH.
I have GOT to sow my dad! HE is a teacher at a colidge!
If you have a sentence ending in a preposition you have used to many words or used passive voice. Prepositions at the end of sentences also make sentences look like they are missing information
i.e. “Can you tell me who the check was given to (get gas)?” or “Can you tell me who you gave the check to (pay for the pizza)?” versus. “Can you tell me who you gave the check?” or “Can you tell me who received the check?”
This post should apply to creative writing not formal writing.
I also though a split infinitive was putting and adverb or adjective between the “to” and the “verb”… i.e. “I walked to leisurely get where I was going.” versus “I walked leisurely to get where I was going.”… Not using the infinitive form or a verb…
Please, don’t encourage using colloquialisms in formal writing, people have to read it.
With that first set of examples you give, no, it doesn’t at all look or sound like it’s missing something – until you add those brackets. Then it’s missing another ‘to’.
“Can you tell me who the check was given to (to get gas)?”
“Can you tell me who you gave the check to (to pay for the pizza)?”
I realise it’s a double preposition, but each ‘to’ applies to a different subject.
Of course, if it were phrased like this, then a ‘to’ on the end would certainly indicate missing information:
“Can you tell me to whom the check was given?”
“Can you tell me to whom you gave the check?”
As with your final sentence, replace that second comma with a semi-colon; people have to read you as well.
‘Because it took all afternoon to write the new proposal’ looks odd if it is not as a response to a ‘Why’ question.
If you start the sentence with ‘Because’ it acts a bit like a conditional where you need result of the condition set before it as follows:
‘Because it took all afternoon to write the new proposal, I was late for the meeting’.
I don’t see the difference between putting the “because” clause at the beginning or end. People will read the entire sentence and understand its meaning.
Great article! I never understood why we had to follow all these rules as a kid, but I went along with it anyway because I figured the teachers knew better. It wasn’t until college–and lots of novel reading later–that I realized they were wrong.
This is so true. I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed this.
It was my seventh grade English teacher who taught me not to start a sentence with “but.” or “and.” She did give students permission to do so once we became published authors. And now sometimes I do. But I think of her every stinking time.
How you like them apples, Mrs. Clary? I did listen to you!
Not sure they lied though
As an English major, I have to disagree with the one about because. Never start a sentence with because. It reads terrible and there’s always a different way to word the sentence.
Well I personally would disagree with you but that might be due to the fact that when I read the start of your third sentence, written by a confessed English major, I thought it “reads terrible” too. And maybe you should find “a different way to word the sentence.”
Arf Arf
Gawd bless us all and save us all from bleedin’ kids under 50!!
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
Of course, you can always reword the sentence, but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with starting with “because.”
I write much like how I speak and I know that I don’t always use proper grammar when talking. I think it’s easier to read something written in the way we speak as opposed to properly or grammatically correct.
I think I go along with that, to an extent, but on the other hand it can depend on HOW we speak. If your method of verbal comunication is poor (and many are poor at that), then unfortunately so will your written language.
We can’t accept that others will be thinking what we think nor reading something with one’s particular method of intonation and word stress – and thus the need for basics in childhood (up to the age of 50).
More than one of my English teachers told me I’d never get anywhere as a writer because I “didn’t use enough big words”. The unfortunate thing is, I abandoned writing for a number of years as a result, because I believed them. I’m now a published poet, a professional writer and I’m currently shopping one of my novels out to publishers.
Boy, were they wrong about me.
I generally agree with most of the points here. However, I do feel that sentences should not end with a preposition wherever possible unless it involves a question (“Where are you from?”, “Who are you with?”, etc) or the preposition is part of a phrasal verb (“He is whacking off”, “The are checking in”, etc).
In most other circumstances, using a preposition at the end of the sentence reflects poor grammar skills because there is often a more eloquent way of stating it.
Those are good examples. However, those sentences would not be allowed under the strict rules being taught. I plan to address the style issue in a followup post, but the sentence-ending preposition is NOT a grammar issue.
Yes you’re right, it’s a style issue. I still think it’s best avoided though.
One question about dyslexia: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/dyslexia/
I am so glad that someone came up with a blog about writing skills. I know i need to improve my writing so i think its a very useful blog.
Take the time to review my blog, and see if you can find my errors Haha..
Have u ever wondered what foods to try at a resturant. Which is good and which is just horrible? Have u ever wondered what to eat when your going out.. If you want to try something new?
Follow us Via email at http://colorfulfoods.wordpress.com/ for daily reviews of home cooked meals and resturant food reviews. Let us know how we are doing… Support COLORFULFOODS
I hope u r kidding us.
RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
The English Language (like all languages) is of course etymologically based, but so what.
I daresay back in Stoneage times there was some highbrow pratt wandering around saying “you can’t put an UG before a preposition” and “oh for pity’s sake Arthur, please stop splitting your Infinitive” and Arthur the Stoneage man replying “if I want to Split my wife ‘Infinitive’ over the head with a rock for not darning my socks, that’s my business and no-one else’s.”
Today and for many and varied historical reasons, the Language of English (written like that purposefully) belongs to the World.
Most English born people (like myself) don’t really understand their own language which is not surprising really when you think that no-one even knows how many words there are in that most August of languages. Estimates range from around 600,000 to over a million with an estimated 8,500 to 25,000 being added annually.
How many people know that the word Connection can be acceptably spelt Connexion (OED) and that odd spelling of the word itself used to appear in the official UK British Passport? How many people would agree that one cannot spell a word in the English language without a vowel only then to find the word “Cwm” clearly listed in the OED. Mind you, it is derived from the Welsh language and since no-one in the world can understand anything they say perhaps we have the explanation.
Where rules of spelling, grammar and sentence construction are concerned our main concern should simply be for the instruction of children. And then one day when WE decide they are no longer children (and in my humble and esteemed opinion this usually occurs sometime around the age of 50 and for Women, never) we should give them the golden key and tell them “right, you can all read and write now, so off you go and communicate effectively in any damn why you want.”
In my humble (but no doubt highly revered) opinion there is only one real important thing we need to consider and that is, “can we communicate with each other and can we do that effectively.” This is the prime and core reason for language.
Referring to the blog contributor’s little joke above, can you imagine saying “where’s the ambulance at” whilst attending an accident scene and some wag engaging you in a debate on the correct construction of an English Language sentence whilst said patient-in-the-making rapidly turns into a corpse.
Language is fun: so sod prepositions, sod conjunctions and sod conjunctivitis – just write and have frigging fun (and ps: write for yourself first and forget thinking you are the next J.K. Rowling – and that book you have “inside you,” my advice is trying looking in your bodily orifices first, you might just find it’s in the hole in your bottom).
Toodle Pip All !!
Clever historical narrative.
Thank’ee ma’am, thank’ee – and as I am sure you will well know, intelligence is a burden. But I am sure we will shoulder that burden and walk proudly amongst the great unwashed English Majors who don’t know their arses from their elbows – “because it read so terrible”
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
Where are the examples pf the split infinitive?
To boldly go…
To boldly go into the the ladies room
and to oddly find it oversubscribed,
to loudly fart and clear said room,
thence to happily return to wordpress, degassified !!
Padiofarty, your potty humor is gross enough—why make it even worse by using more than one exclamation mark?
BECAUSE I like to break the rules as well as Wind Bluefox, that’s why I use two exclamation marks – I’m surprised I had to even make this erudite clarification !!!
As an English major, I know that those silly rules are not at all actual rules! I have been questioning them for years. Great post!
Thanks, this was really helpful. I battle with my sentences when I see that I have no other option but to end my thought with a preposition. You’ve liberatated us from prepositional enslavement!!!!
Thanks for linking the source of many of these dogmas back to “Latin-envy” back when the academic world was transitioning to English. When people try to toss these rules at me I usually play the English major card: “It’s OK–I’m an English major. I have grammatical immunity.”
Love this! The style of writing is fresh and captivating. The way you addressed the writing issues is very entertaining! Thank you for sharing this!
Great article. You make so much sense! I don;t know if you ever heard the quote from WW2 British Prime Minister about ending sentences with prepositions. (I don’t think he had very fond memories of his 9th grade English teacher.) “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put!”
This is an excellent post. I hate when someone tries to correct a sentence I’ve written because I started with “and” or “but” or “because.” I always end up trying to explain that the only reason they think that way is because their highschool English teachers were tired of reading sentence fragments and poorly constructed sentences.
I did not know about the prepostitions though! I always hate editing to fix that one, so that’s really nice to know!
One of the best rules I ever learned from my 12th grade English teacher (who, coincidently, just happened to be my Latin teacher): English rules are made to be broken! At least, when it comes to creative writing. While the lessons she taught me about the ‘proper’ way to do something are always going to stick with me (I’m the main editor of the pair of my wife and me), the pure author in me always has to have a say about just what rule needs to get off because it’s interrupting my flow.
Anyways, great post!
useful
[…] Engelska grammatikregler Postat den 18 oktober, 2011 av gealach| Lämna en kommentar Lies Your English Teacher Told You « Easy Tips for Business Writers. […]
I LOVE this post! Thank you for allowing me to break these non-rules without feeling guilty anymore. I am a grammar bitch (even though I am FAR from perfect) but I also like to bend the standard often. I have even been known to isspell on occasion. Ha!
Sarah
Just read this as we researched for our own writing!
Great read. It’s going to take us a while though to start with an ‘And’! 🙂
Great post ! I certainly will come back for other tips to improve my writing. I’m French but I enjoy writing in English.
Kasia
Amazing read. This helped me a great deal following revision for exams 🙂 Than k you.
I just gotta sign up for this one – it’s wonderful !!!!!
this is something i have to polish on.. thanks pal..
>You can’t split an infinitive
I just had to remember the phrase “to boldly go where no man has gone before”!
Where is “Boldly Go”, another galaxy? A strange name, I think. Maybe it’s a corruption from another language that was pronounced “boldligo”?
I liked the part “bitch”…..
[…] English Speaker. And I’ve committed a lot of grammatical mistakes in this blog of mine, [it's correct to start your sentence with and, with, because and etc. I read it from a blog here in … but if you are a teenager like me, you’ll really laugh if you saw an excuse letter like that […]
It was hilarious! I loved it the way you conveyed the things! 😀
Well, i usually start my sentence with conjunctions i was only restricted in science when writing statements …
Ruqaiya
Well done. I have been fighting these myths for years. I think it may have been Winston Churchill that commented, “This is nonsense up with which I shall not put.” 😀
Having re-read my own blog it appears that I have been breaking these so-called rules for ages 😉
For the most part I am relieved. However, I am worried about the prepositions because I have been really strict with that and have criticized people endlessly on FB for using one at the end of the sentence. I can go hide now. 🙂 LOL
I’m still haunted by these rules cos I’m sure I keep breaking ’em! Great post. K
While I agree with the content here, can we please stop blaming all the High School English teachers? As one, I understand why sometimes high school (or middle school even) teachers do teach some of the rules the way they do. Have you ever tried explaining the difference between a subordinate and independent clause to a bunch of 14 year olds? It is so much easier to just say “Don’t start your sentence with because.” Espcially now that our salaries are going to be determined on whether students use fragments or not on the standardized tests, what are we poor teachers to do? 🙂
Teaching High school English and writing is honestly a joy! It is amazing to watch young writers develop, and it is especially fun to teach students the “rules” at one time (because of their developmental readiness) only to teach them later to break those same “rules.” I have so much fun telling my class to break or forget a rule because now they are more mature and they have better command of the language. It’s great to watch their faces light up.
So if those evil and sadistic High School English teacher never taught those rules, you could never be the superhero who gives them permission to be a renegade.
Sir,
Where 14 year olds and the problem of the independent and subordinate clauses are concerned, have you ever thought about trying this on the little runts:
Consider the sentence, “I am a Teacher with a cat that I want to use.”
“I am a Teacher with a cat” can be an independent sentence
AND
“that I want to use” can not be an independent sentence, so it’s a subordinate clause.
And then some smart arsed spotty faced pupil with a grammar book hidden under his desk says:
“Oy Teachy, I see the subordinate clause to be what I would call a Dependent Clause because a subordinate clause is one which is somehow governed by the dependent clause, such as requiring the use of the subjunctive in the subordninate clause because of something in the dependent clause.”
And isn’t there always one little smart arsed toe rag in the class – am I right or wrong Mr. Brainvomit40?
So what are we to do Sir – well I will offer a suggestion: try saying this:
“That may well be the case boy, but what you don’t know, what you can’t possibly bloody well know in your short 14 year sojourn on this God’s Earth, a sojourn that may actually not see out it’s 15th birthday, is the small matter that my Cat happens to have nine tails and in fact it is sometimes called a ‘Cat-O-Nine-Tails’ – wanna see it in action do ya, snot nose?”
And Sir, I think you will find this might just work in your favou and to your well deserved Magisterial peace and sanity.
Toodle Pip.
Nice post!!! I like it very much. Especially for bitch part~~~~~~~~~~~
As a fellow English instructor, I must respectfully disagree with your statement about starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions (and, but). Indeed, to begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction IS grammatically incorrect, as it flaunts the function of these parts of speech, which is to connect ideas, words, clauses, or phrases. Often, when people misuse coordinating conjunctions in this way, they not only show ignorance of the function of this part of speech, but they also create new issues, namely, fragments. Subordinate conjunctions are a bit different, so those by rule can begin sentences. However, I still adhere to teaching the functional rule about and, but, yet, and other coordinating conjunctions.
I see your point, but I don’t agree. First, you’re saying that you would accept my previous sentence but not this:
I see your point. But I don’t agree.
The sentences are nearly identical. Second, if it is grammatically incorrect, why doesn’t the rule appear in any of my grammar handbooks and textbooks? In fact, my college textbook uses sentences beginning with “and” and “but” as examples in the section about punctuating with commas to show that one is not needed after a short transitional word. Finally, words are not always committed to one role; they are free to function as different parts of a sentence. For example, a preposition may be the basis of a prepositional phrase or may be part of a noun or verb. The word “running” could be the sentence’s subject or part of the predicate.
Great info. I write quite a bit so these tips are valuable in adding variety to my articles. Sometimes it can be the little changes that make a topic sound more interesting. Plus, I like to go against the rules so anytime I can use because at the beginning or end with at, I will! 🙂
Wow, I have thought this for the longest time and never heard anyone else actually say anything about it… I think what get’s me the most is how my English teacher used to make such big deal about NEVER EVER starting a sentence with “and” and then a few years later it becomes not only acceptable but people do it regularly…
Loved this post, and your blog title. Especially liked the example for ending a sentence with a preposition!
I wrote something similar, but about how some usages irritate me. When you get a chance, stop by my blog and the post at:
Look forward to reading more of your blog,
sri
Even if everyone doesn’t agree about this stuff, it is important to keep the discussion open in acknowledgment of the fact that English, like any language, evolves over time. Rules come and go and jostle around along the way. Good post!
“GIRL #1: Where’s your birthday party at?
GIRL #2: Never end a sentence with a preposition.
GIRL #1: Where’s your birthday party at, bitch?
You can’t start a sentence with “and” or “but.””
Funny, I know too many people that will argue in favor of these rules. Great tips. Thanks for shearing.
Good to know. Thanks.
What a helpful post, thanks! So many of the old rules have tied us down…these are good ones to be rid of (in moderation) 🙂
Thanks for this post! I feel I must agree with a point you made that wasn’t the main point, which is that these rules are fine to break in a familiar setting, but not in formal writing. That being said, I’ve been working for years now to eliminate bad grammar from my vocabulary; even when speaking to friends or colleagues, I try to keep my grammar clean. I do recognize the ultimate obsolescence of my endeavor, though, as it is faced with an ever-changing language.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’ve made me feel that, even though these rules are neither memorable nor important in the long run, I’m standing for a legitimate (but petty) cause.
Thank you! Love it.
I loved this post. I took me back to high school and the rules teachers told us to abide by. Thanks!
This is fascinating!
🙂
uponatlas.
Because I have read this post, I now feel prepared to compose a blog entry with minimal grammatical errors. The biggest problem I have is when and where to use commas. When I place commas in my writing, I always question the their placement. Often times I use too many. But other times I don’t use enough. I enjoyed this entry.
Ah yes, so many silly little rules…but then, the most helpful among the ones that teach them, will tell you they drill them into you, so you know their limitations, and precisely the *right* way to break them…
I for one like soft “ands” and small “buts.” Great Post !!!
I had a crush on my 1o th grade composition teacher Ms. Stevens.
This reminds me of her thanks and congratulations on being freshly pressed.
Each day you grasp new knowledge. These rules are firmly rooted in my writing because it was taught, this is indeed, bad grammar. Ending a sentence with a proposition, I consider to be informal writing. Thank you for the post. It was an informative read.
I am currently studying to be an English teacher and a lot of times I wonder about whether or not I’ll have to teach something I don’t agree with. There’s always the issue with the school’s curriculum. Some things must be taught a certain way, other things can’t be taught at all. Many things I was taught in high school turned out to be useless in College because writing rules change. And so this begs the question: Should I teach what the school tells me to teach, or should I teach the things that will be useful and practical in College and beyond?
i hate it
The issues I brought up don’t appear in textbooks, so I doubt they’d be part of the curriculum, but who knows? Most high school English teachers that I know have great passion for the subject, and no one bothers them about minor classroom issues.
Great article, because of high school teachers I always thought those were rules.
Love this! I spent 12 years being taught by nuns who were adamant about the rules, so I spent a lot of time violating them anyway. It makes sense now that I could never find REAL evidence I was breaking any rules! Still, I find myself cringing every time I see myself breaking them. Maybe it’s ghost pain from the beatings I took from the sisters all those years ago.
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I love this post–made me laugh and taught me a lesson at the same time. 🙂
I did a writing course with an Oxford Don. He said the only reason you can’t start a sentence with “because” is because Oxford Dons said so and for no other reason. It’s an interesting thought isn’t it?
Love this! 😉 Keep up the good work and ill keep following you!!
-Chris Styles
http://www.idolizejournal.com
I love this post, but I have one qualm: the artificial rule of always making a list of names end in I (e.g. Martha, James, Cooper, and I). Sometimes this is not the case and it should actually be “and me” due to objectives versus nominatives.
Just some food for thought. This is just the main thing I think of when “lies” and “english” are placed in close relation to each other.
Yes, people think “Martha and me” sounds wrong in those situations and will change it to “Martha and I” so as not to sound uneducated.
This fully supports my teaching style here in Korea. It’s not all about grammar but about being able to hold a conversation.
Great post! As a former middle school English teacher, I have to admit that during my first round of grading essays I felt compelled to start marking through my students’ sentences that began with ‘because’ for nothing other than the fact that my teachers did it to me. I came to the same realization though–that they didn’t think we’d be able to differentiate between independent and dependent clauses.
I want to clarify my love for this posting by saying that teaching grammar is extremely important. However, these “rules” you’ve correctly pointed out are indeed only misconceptions, or lies.
My last thought is addressed to those who may interpret this post to me we should screw any semblance of rules in our language and opt for free reign of the pen (mouse, thumbs, whatever). “You have to know the rules in order to break them” is an adage I stand by. If we want the English language to remain an art form, somewhat of a structure and style must remain in tact.
Good grammar lets one target whatever degree of clarity or obfuscation one desires in a sentence. A scientist strives for clarity. A politician strives for ambiguity. Both need a command of grammar.
Even with good grammar, one is at the mercy of other people’s interpretations of one’s message. “Give me two shots in the dark, please.” What do you think you’ll get?
Yes, I’m not telling writers to ignore the rules; I’m explaining that these myths aren’t rules. As a teacher, I’m actually picky about proper grammar in my students’ essays.
After I saw, of all things, an NFL Films segment on players’ issues with reporters – which I could have worded differently if I didn’t necessarily want to avoid an alliteration – I started thinking about that 1st “lie.” I’ve become kind of a stickler about it.
“The Blind Side” is absolutely 1 of my favorite movies and, when Kathy Bates says, “It’s something I feel you should be aware of before you hire me,” I’ve gotten like, “Argh! . . . you should *know*.”
I’ll try and be less so from now on.
Nice article, I always thought those were rules.
Great post, I cannot say I am a master of the English language, but I do appreciate you making us aware of the myths surrounding the rules….
I also believe that if a sentence makes sense to the reader then that is all that counts. That is of course assuming they are not completely trashing the English language in the process either.
I think the thing about beginning a sentence with a conjunction is that people do it too often. I’m guilty of this myself; I have to edit my stuff ruthlessly to ensure I’ve only started a sentence with ‘And’ or ‘But’ once per paragraph, otherwise it seems (to me) babbling and repetetive.
(Incidentally, I was taught ‘i before e except after c’ … then they taught us science. And, I break THAT ‘rule’ every time I sign my name)
Cordially,
Keith
Thank you for your article, it is very interesting.
True!
I agree with these things.. since the use of prepositions are wildly acquired nowadays.. great article! thanks for sharing.. also congratulations for making it on freshly pressed! 😀
[…] definitely guilty for using way too much preposition in my classrooms. “Do you know what this is?” “Where is the student at?” AND […]
😆 Well, what can I say… I’m from Romania and I thought only we, Romanians, have those stupid rulles… I write from pleasure and I know some techniques, in order to make a text more interesting. But my teacher always tells me that I can’t use this or that… Those things you said 😀 It is funny and, I must admit, reassuring to know I’m not the only one with this dilemma 🙂
Good Luck!
Regards!
Fantastic read! You have an exciting and playful way with words that transforms bland to brilliant! well done
Now I know they’re lying.. Although the main reason I know why is this:
“They’re just afraid of being outdid by their students.”
[…] Lies Your English Teacher Told You Posted: October 19, 2011 by pasawaniwed in Language points 0 เรื่องโกหกที่ทุกคนอาจจะเคยถูกสอนมา… Click here to read […]
This is a great post. I am an English tutor, and I constantly tell my students that it is alright to start a sentence with “and” or “but.”
I don’t think they’re lying, they don’t know what they’re saying…
Interesting stuff and I agree (English graduate, former English teacher, English) and like it that you suggest reasons for the ‘rules’. But how often is it true that we need to know the rules before we can break them (with confidence). I love how language is fluid too.
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Neat I never knew that!
Cool!
Thanks for the great post….
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I knew it! All lies! Thank you for setting me straight even though it was never corrected during my English college classes.
I love tis post! My daughter is planning on becoming an English teacher (if I hadn’t been there at her birth I would think she was adopted) and I am going to send this to her. I think she should post it in her classroom.
I don’t even have to read your next post to know…I already agree with you, and am so happy to have found this post.
As someone with no formal training in wrting, as I am certain the ill placed punctuation marks in my post reveal, these are some of the biggest things that have often slowed my writing process down.
Someone once said, “never begin a sentence with an “and”, or “but”, yadi yada… And, these things DO tend to stick in ones mind as they go about trying to articulate in a way acceptable to a broader group of readers. Or, statements like these tend to come up in my mind as I am writing anyway.
I believe I have improved in my writing skills over the past few years in these areas,mostly due to simple observation of other writiers usages of the words, However, I still need a lot of work in the punctuation mark placements.
Another area, or, other area(s) I struggle with at times, obviously, is the whole “Passive Voice” and “Hidden Verbs” things the gramatics checker here at wordpress points out.
Finding your site is a blessing…Oh, and yeah,,, hehehe…the”Niche Bitch” preposition thing, great stuff…
Whoops…you arn’t counting off for spelling are you? Writier?..
Hidden Verb, things…There, that’s better…Maybe.
: )
I love the history behind these rules! Thank you for a great post. I was unsure on some of these rules and it’s good to see their background.
I always knew my English teachers were lying to me. Grammar and it’s rules are pretty fickle.
I always knew my English teachers were lying to me. Grammar and its rules are pretty fickle.
I feel that some of these rules are a serious hindrance for many students’ language development. Mostly because even when they “unlearn” them, they tend to pop up out of habit and the students’ work is stilted somewhat. Writing becomes less fluid when speed-bumps appear. Thanks for helping loosen the rope of rules that is used to occasionally bind and drag young minds through the desert of literacy.
great post, thanks, pointing to the variability of rules. Emphasizing historical roots of course gives raise to the relativity of rules… recalling that it’s just a game, depending on context and pragmatics, as it already has been expressed before. Who would claim that written language is never without resemblance to spoken words and utterances? Or vice versa? AND, yet… Rules in grammar are NOT just about putting words into a more or less ordered series, language is weaving, flying carpets, Thus grammar is not law, it just spurs understanding, between brains in living beings, in and of these ongoing miracles we call language… your post is just a further proof of that, ciao
I don’t know where you teach, but your goal seems to be popularity – not education. Rules exist for a reason. They give us common ground for understanding. They are NOThandcuffs or chains. Shame on you for portraying them as such.
My goal is education. These are not rules. They do not appear in grammar books. In my followup post, I will list several of the leading grammar sources and their views on these issues. A few other writing books suggest them as guidelines for formal writing, but that is not the version in the grammar guides.
You know that “where’s by AK47 at?” kind of sentence sounds a little odd, but you’re right, English is a totally different animal. Not Latin in the least. That’s amazing that you know that. Dang!
Crap! That was supposed to “where’s MY AK47.” Man, I really need an English professor. :o(
I’m a Primary teacher who sometimes invents specific “rules” to encourage more thought in my students’ writing. For example, I will tell them “you’re not allowed to use the words ‘said’ or ‘went’ in your story!” This is neither a lie nor a Law of Grammar; it is simply a method for encouraging different thinking.
Here’s one for another post – should all uses of language be accepted or remain unchallenged? In the area of London in which I taught, it was common for adults to use “was” in the wrong context, i.e. “was you talking back to me?” I was always taught that this was wrong, but in this area of London it could be argued to be a dialect for which the children should not be challenged or made to feel under pressure to change. After all, outside the classroom “was you” is common usage among children and adults – why should we ask them to change just in the classroom?
Hope that’s as thoughtful for you as your post was for me.
I have no problem with instructors creating temporary rules for certain assignments. In fact, my sophomore English teacher didn’t allow students to use linking verbs in an attempt to strengthen our vocabulary, and it was a great challenge! It definitely made me work harder to find interesting verbs. However, she clarified that using “is” was not a grammar or style error that we would find in the grammar books.
I’ve seen some of the arguments for assimilating dialects into formal discourse, but in the end all the educators I know insist on proper usage as determined by the dictionary (which is, of course, changing.)
[…] a sentence with “and”. Ya know why? Because {another word you can start a sentence with} this blog post says I can! Finally after years of wanting to use “and” first in a sentence but then […]
What such a great information?!! I’m not a native speaker of English, so it was good for me to read your article and get benefits.
Thanks for sharing such information
As a current Latin student, I especially sympathize with the idea of splitting infinitives. You have a great outlook on the idea, even my Latin teacher would agree with you in the modern sense.
I love all this information.
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Thank you! I will never be afraid of ending a sentence with a preposition again!
nice post 🙂
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Enjoyed your article very much and enjoy reading about grammar. I have one question though. One comment mentioned that using “ing” indicated that he was probably using a passive verb. Why is using a passive verb so frowned upon in America? Thanks.
Passive verbs are acceptable on occasion, but using all passive verbs slows the pace and weakens the reader’s interest. Several readers have asked about passive voice, so I’ll work the topic into a future post. Thanks for writing.
funny and informative also !!!
See also http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/up-from-out-of-in-under-for/
particularly
Morris Bishop, ‘The Naughty Preposition’, The New Yorker, 27 September 1947:
I lately lost a preposition;
It hid, I thought, beneath my chair
And angrily I cried, ‘Perdition!
Up from out of in under there.’
Correctness is my vade mecum,
And straggling phrases I abhor,
And yet I wondered, ‘What should he come
Up from out of in under for?’
Interesting!
I love the history behind these rules! Thank you for a great post. I was unsure on some of these rules and it’s good to see their background.
[…] https://lisakusko.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/lies-your-english-teacher-told-you/ […]
I checked a book out from the library, and someone had “corrected” a split infinitive. It said something like “the person whom he wanted to speak to” and they’d crossed out the “to” at the end, and wrote one in before the “whom.” Now that’s a dedicated grammar nazi.
Actually, it was a preposition at the end of a sentence, not a split infinitive. Whoops.
That is so true! I am a teacher and English major. You would not believe the poor grammar students have these days. Not only that, but the teachers are not that much better!
“Beginning too many sentences with and or but leads to weak, bland writing. But using such conjunctions sparingly in a document is perfectly legal (unless your ninth-grade teacher is going to read it).”
Love it. Thanks.
To begin all the sentences with ANY ‘type’ or selection of similar limited word choice (e.g. The or A or An, The etc) regardless of being Prepositions or Conjunctions or any other “tions” would make any piece of written work bland.
The whole point of this Lady’s post is to point unknown grammatical facts out and to educate; your comment is mere superfluous persiflage Ma’am.
Fab post – I know in some ways this is about being free of rules in writing but it is also a clarification of the rules. Knowledge is power : )
[…] il bell’articolo in inglese dal titolo “le bugie che ti ha detto il tuo prof di inglese”, nel quale […]
Thank you! I will never be afraid of ending a sentence with a preposition again!
funny and informative also !!!
[…] An entertaining post on lies your English teacher told you about writing. Heck, this is about polishing writing — how do we get teenagers to write at all, today? […]
I read an article saying that teenagers actually write a lot, but largely in informal contexts like texting. Texting is not helping my students’ spelling skills!
(sorry) to continue:
teenagers should be put down at birth for enrollment into English Language Training courses.
Actually I think on reflection I prefer my original short cut comment.
Toodle Pip
Where is the new copier at? This may sound odd to some but it’s used in the dialect of my home county of Somerset. So is Where is the new copier to?
………..and in Somerset do they really put Rats in the Farm Scrumpy Vats to give it body too?
Phew! Now I won’t be ashamed of my journal entries from 10 years old onwards. What a great post! Cheers.
What a great post! The latter is known in English grammar as a minor sentence. Perfectly permissible (in moderation). Microsoft Word irritates me on occasions by accusing me of writing “sentence fragments”. Nonsense, I say!
On another matter, the split infinitive rule is still orthodox in England, and usually, from an English perspective, sentences with split infinitives sound somewhat illiterate, but the practice of preceding the (whole) verb with an adverb, although an elegant form of syntax (in my opinion) has largely gone out of fashion. I would like humbly to recommend its use, however!
Understand the rules. Then break them effectively.
I sometimes think, what is the difficulty of writing. but it was when I started my new notice. I conclude that it is hard to find something perfect, so I find it difficult to say. but when I say I want, all the easier. words can indeed bring up the wall a thousand spells. words can also change an illusion into reality. I hope my friends is the best teacher, so I can make the words work in my life
Though I have forgotten many rules of written English, these have always bothered me and I now feel as if my soul has been cleansed by your forgiveness.
There are many, many grammar Nazis out there. Some are self-proclaimed grammar Nazis and are proud of it. Drives me nuts. Thanks for sharing this!
I very much dislike the trivialization of the word “Nazi” in current times. No one is going to goose-step up to your door and haul you to a gas chamber for making a grammar mistake. “Nazi” should be reserved for situations that are truly morally disgusting and ethically repellent. Go ahead and split all the infinitives you want, dangle your prepositions for all to see, but please join the effort to stop the unthinking use of a horrific term.
Do you know something, this comment of yours re the Nazis is probably about the only comment of value on here, the only comment with any sense in it, the only comment of any real meaning.
It shines out as a beacon amongst the moronic, self absorbed, sycophantic crap that 90% plus are chucking in on top of what is a highly valuable and informative post by the Blog Owner.
I congratulate you on at least attempting to make “them” think – unfortunately “they” can’t !
padiofarty:
I’m happy to see some agreement on dislike for the spreading use of “Nazi” in inappropriate contexts. I wonder if there is similar trivialization of the word in the Russian, Polish or German languages, or other places where there were more victims of Nazi atrocities, and the memories may have remained more immediate.
Your second example is hilarious! If only my English classes were taught in such a fashion! Great post.
Great post, thanks for reaffirming that it’s ok to break the rules!
It’s good to know that it wasn’t just me that was told that!
“It is a silly rule, up with which I will not put!”
— Winston Churchill on the subject of never ending a sentence with a preposition.
amazing!!! i could remember my teacher who kept on criticizing my english but i was very grateful that i learned correct grammar in college before i applied for a job… thanx for reminding. =)
http://travelersdiningdepot.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/jamie-olivers-perfect-steak/
Great article! Being an English major this is great to read, also funny examples.
brookeandmckenzie.wordpress.com
Brooke and Mckenzie
Great blog – Have always wondered about the preposition rule. Thanks for the alternative suggestion
Great blog – Have always wondered about the preposition rule. Thanks for the alternative suggestion
I was just telling my sophomore English class about John Dryden and the invented rule of ending a sentence in a preposition. I think those imaginary rules come more from elementary school than high school. Still, I usually don’t bother dispelling the myths. I like to share the preposition anecdote, though.
This was a great blog post, though I feel the generation coming through schools today won’t even understand this post bcoz of d w@y u writ3 on d internets lol rofl lmao.
Sometimes teachers just have to set rules for the betterment of their students. Which is nice, I think, just to help enhance the students 🙂
I have no problem with teachers being strict in enforcing the existing rules. My point is that these rules don’t exist. As mentioned in response to an earlier comment, I have no problem with teachers setting “temporary” rules as part of a writing assignment, but they should clarify that the rules aren’t permanent.
You had me at “Where’s your birthday party at, bitch?” :))
Sooooo following you now….
I knew deep down inside me they were a myth because I see the things our teachers tell us not to do in published material!!
This is so true! The great part about being a writer is getting to break the rules of grammar… but not too much. Like with spelling errors. Great post. Thanks for writing this.
As an English teacher (and an English one at that), I fully endorse this excellent piece of work. English, just like every other language, is a living, breathing, evolving organism. For instance, I remember being told at school that it was not alright to use alright because there was no such word and that only all right was acceptable. Alright can now be found in a standard English dictionary because we took ownership of it.
Rules are, of course, there to be broken, but just because a car can be driven at 70 miles per hour, it doesn’t mean that it is acceptable to hurtle down a suburban street at that speed. Best save it for the motorway or race track.
What is far more helpful when it comes to creative writing is being able to develop the ‘voice’ of the piece and by that I mean what the reader will hear in their head. And because we tend not to talk in the same way to friends and colleagues as we would critique a piece of literature say… well you know what I mean. Teaching the ‘voice’, to my mind at least however, is an art rather than a science and, therefore, gives you carte blanche to break a few rules.
Yours sincerely, oh who am I kidding?
Big up your bad self one time and ting!
Yes, the dictionary is changing, but at least in American dictionaries, “alright” is labeled as nonstandard, so I don’t let my students use it. Of course, in creative writing, the formal rules aren’t as important.
whew…took some effort to get here. at any rate, nice write. thank you.
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As an English grad student, this is all I have to say: FINALLY, someone said it!
Thanks for sharing!
Love this! Sharing on twitter.
This is awesome.
But seriously, you gave examples of how NOT to do things, but some positive examples would have really helped.
How do you end a sentence with a preposition properly?
I’m planning a followup with examples!
That was helpful. Thanks.
I enjoyed your post, it was fun and informative. Grats on FP
Great post! I was quite surprised when a fellow language instructor asked me if it was acceptable to start a sentence with “and”! Of course it is! Some have commented here that it’s only okay in speaking, but surely the spoken / written language distinction is too simplistic. It’s more to do with text type and audience.
Also, “because”, “although” etc, could be an issue of what the listener knows / doesn’t know. We tend to start with the common ground, i.e. what the speaker knows.
[…] are subjective to the particular teacher that’s not found in any grammar book. Take a look @ English myths debunked and you’ll realize how arbitrary teachers are/can be/want to […]
What about the silent letters? =0
When teachers tell you to sound out the word?
Heh, I used to say ‘ka-nife’ because I didn’t know the k was silent….
I know some of those lies. I don’t know some of those lies.
amazing, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!
My marketing team should find a lot of value from this article. Thanks!
My favorite one was “You have to learn to write in cursive! You always have to write in cursive in [next level of schooling].” I was told this in elementary and middle school…that I’d be forced to write in cursive in high school. False.
THANKS! As a writer, I always feel guilty when I break one of these cardinal rules that I haven’t really heard enforced since I was in first grade. I think I’ll rebel and try to break each rule this week!
http://www.benjity.wordpress.com
I always love when someone tackles these myths. I work with people that are have picked these up and takes some effort to convince them otherwise.
OK, you won’t believe this, but I didn’t actually “learn” these rules until I took my COLLEGE-level English Comp I class!!! (I received a 20-point reduction on my first paper for beginning some sentences with “And” and “But.”) Now, to learn my sentences were actually grammatically correct and the teacher was delusional is poetic justice. From a blog, no less. THANK you for making my day. 🙂
I teach from a textbook that makes a point of showing how published authors have successfully used “and” and “but” at the beginning of sentences (sparingly, of course.) It’s a shame you lost points!
I loved the “Where’s your birthday party at, bitch?” thing!
Nice post 🙂
These are very great tips.
I truly love grammar. It’s amazing how people can get so touchy about the way sentences are constructed (including myself). I particularly love to use the hotly debated Oxford Comma. It is glorious!
My question is this… can a person begin a sentence with “however”? My grad professor used to yell at us if we did. Now, if I use however, it is always after a semicolon. What do you think?
That’s a new one to me. “However” is frequently used after a semicolon, but I can’t think of a reason anyone would object to starting a sentence with it.
Very informative! It’s amazing how things, even when they’re wrong, get passed along over time. I always thought the english language had too many rules. As a result, it bored me during class and I was taught some fictional information.
How do these teachers get through college without being told that these rules are fictional and not to teach them???
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I think the teachers were taught by teachers who reinforced the rules so strongly that the new teachers never investigated their merit.
that’s why i wrote poetry 🙂
not much you can do with poetry, especially because it’s in stanzas
and i think math has too many rules 😀
wow, your blog’s email subscription has 968 followers…thats a lot. wish i had that many, i’m lucky to get a single comment.
ad astra!
@ Rocket Dog: You need to link your Name to your blog’s URL then you might get more visitors. I was gunna check out your blog but no link to it…
I had a small following until I was featured on “Freshly Pressed.” I was featured after reading and following these instructions:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/five-ways-to-get-featured-on-freshly-pressed/
As a veteran English teacher, I am happy to know that I haven’t been lying! 🙂
Somehow I got through college without being taught any of the myths, or I would probably have propagated a few myself.
Thank you for sharing valuable information!
And and Because are my favorite words to start sentences 😉
That’s why I do comics. My characters don’t care about grammar & rules & stuff. They just say whatever I tell them to. My Mum was big on telling us you can’t start a sentence with because. I think it was her way of giving us less arguing opportunity. ie “Because I want to” However she would override her own rule when I would ask “Why” & Mum would come back at me with a “Because I said so!!!”
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wow this surprisingly helped me when i wasn’t looking for it… lol thanks:)
The preposition debate is as old as the hills. To which Winston Churchill, of all people, responded by parodying it mercilessly. If you don’t know the quote, you can find it in a quote website over which his ghost presides. So, I think the preposition debate is a non-issue. On the other hand, I don’t like split infinitives, they are so inelegant. I think ‘boldy to go where no man has gone before,’ or even ‘to go boldy where no man has gone before’ is so much more stylish than Captain Kirk’s opening salvo in the old Star Trek. My opinion has often encountered the hostility of trendy anything-goes-in-English English teachers, not to mention a Director of Studies, so I am probably a member of a creaky, dying breed of English teachers, but I am also an advoctae of the use of the semi-colon when it is appropriate, ather than the breathless commas that pass as flailing these days.
I have noticed an increasing number of comma splices in student writing. Maybe the increase is the result of teachers who focus on content as opposed to grammar. I’m strict on grammar, but many teachers aren’t. In fact, I was taught in graduate school that I should not grade my students on grammar! (Advice that I promptly ignored.) I think both grammar and content are important.
Sorry about the two typos that pass as spelling mistakes above.
This is super awesome! I’m a junior in high-school and I’m taking AP Language and Composition so, I am going to remember these and actually use this information!
Please forgive me for writing in bad English. Not.
Please don`t forgive me, why should you.
In Dutch we have the same words.
And = en , But = maar.
And we have the same kind of discussions in the Netherlands.
But it hurts a lot of readers that some of us don`t mind.
I think a lot of rules vanished at the time it was possible to write whatever, where-ever about everything by everybody.
And, i think it started with blogs.
I don`t mind any rules, i just write.
I don`t care who reads.
I don`t care what she/he thinks about my incorrect spelling.
I don`t mind a sentence starting with whatever.
I don`t want anyone to tell me about rules.
And that`s why i`m a bad writer. I don`t think so.
And to end this reply, i’m too old to change bad habits.
I love your Blog. Not easy to read. But still very nice.
Actually, I also have discovered some interesting forms at the border between France and Germany : the French spoken there is sometime using the german grammatical rules for prepositions, or a bit of it :
For example :
“Est-ce que tu viens ?” (“are your comming ?”) in “normal” French (well, the one taught in school) becomes “Est-ce que tu viens avec ?” (“Are you comming with ?”) directly from the german “Kommst du mit ?”.
Nice stuff.
Because (ha-ha) it depends on where you are (well, objectively, it seems a bit weird to write a sentance beginning with “beacause”. Mhhh.)
Interesting. English teachers are really different if they’re teaching in the US.
[…] Lies from your English teacher Posted on October 22, 2011 by 1tinystep Lies from your English teacher stolen from here […]
I agree, that when attimes you break some rules for the launguage, it becomes kosher and comes across as unique.Very nice…I love the way challenge conventional thoughts,
Thank You for this much needed lesson, now can I remember it?
This is nice post thanks
James Frey taught us that the most effective prose takes grammatical conventions as strong bases, but never steadfast rules… now if only he could stay out of court.
Really nice article.
It is definitely right that a big part of english college teachers (at least, abroad, for foreigners – and mostly foreigner themselves) lived in a perpetual re-buildt of a fake english of the end of the Victorian Era, with closed rules, sometimes rules that DOES NOT exists, and well, criticizing and counting for mistakes english forms accepted since 1920 (Steve Job could have said “the update was not processed correctly”).
But mostly at the time, one of the biggest myths that a French teacher of english could say to you is that with his or her course, you’ll be able to speak, or, at least, understand english.
That’s one of the biggest myth I have never faced up.
And then I discovered internet, abroad practice, native speakers, and CSI in original version. Which was definitely NOT the same language that the one told in course. A bit if I have taken courses in Dwarf-language (cf. Tolkien) to go study in Japan. Too bad. You are 2000 years late, 15 000 km far east, and, most importantly, not in the good dimension.
so true, all the rules or most of the British English Rules have gone the way of the Monarchy. Nations are now liberatate to ignore some of these rules that drove us crazy and made no rational sense.
I’m a high school English teacher and all of these comprehension rules that you mention are the ones that I grew up with. I will be honest and say that this is no longer where our focus is as English teachers, because of the use of technology students dont really have to worry about that kind of stuff. I can see some good and bad reasons, its good that children dont have to worry about all the pissy language rules but at the same time it’s quite shocking for us as teachers to see how bad their grasp of the English language really is. I still teach year 10 student who have no idea what an elipses is (…) how to use a semi colon. The difference between a comma and a speech mark…I am not even kidding!!
So as much as I agree with breaking the rules, how far does it go?!
I’m not advocating breaking the rules. I’m just saying that certain items aren’t rules. We need to enforce the real rules!
Great post. I think teachers present those “rules” to nip bad habits in the bud. It’s kinda like knowing the rules before you can break the rules. Ultimately, those “rules” become more like guidelines for those that pursue writing as a craft. Most writers take creative liberties with the language which leads them to bend, twist and at times totally break the rules. The written word would be boring indeed if everyone strictly adhered to what is deemed as proper style. In a sense we have to forget we learned in order to find and develop our own literary styles. As for kids in school, I say, stick to the rules. There is nothing wrong with learning how to structure and phrase the language in a logical manner. Even the wildest architecture needs a solid foundation.
Laughing. I cannot tell you how many times I rearrange a sentence so that it does not end with a prep. Scarred for life!
While I can’t argue with you about pretty much any of this, the problem is most people do not have a strong enough grasp of writing to “break” these rules and end up with acceptable writing.
These are actually conventions which are used by people teaching novices to help them avoid errors. Once you fully understand the basis for these “rules,” then you can break them at will because you will be able to avoid the error the rule was meant to prevent.
I’m glad you wrote this because now I understand the conventions better. So, I don’t feel as bad about breaking them. And you can probably guess which rule I like to break the most.
Rules ¬¬
great post!
Rules are myths. Got it.
The starting a sentence with ‘but’ has always bugged me. I have lorded it over many a friend saying you can’t do this, yet now I have been put straight. THank you!
Avoid split infinitives, they do cause ambiguity.
“The Congressman travelled to France to further cement trading relationships.” With a split infinitive that sentence means something totally different from its sense without a split infinitive. If there is no rule saying don’t split, then this is the time I would bring one in.
In fact my major rule, probably my only important rule, is: if what you are going to say is ambiguous or ugly, then find another way of putting it.
M
__________
Marie Marshall
writer/poet/editor/blogger
Scotland
http://kvennarad.wordpress.com
Of course, writers should avoid awkward constructions. But if a sentence isn’t awkward, it can include a split infinitive or sentence-ending preposition.
“The Congressman travelled to France to further cement trading relationships.”
The problem here is not grammar. It is semantic. Perform a replacement for “cement”.
“….to further cement trading relationships => to further enhance trading relationships.”
The ambiguity is cleared up because “enhance” does not function as a noun. To get ambiguity, we would have to go to “to further enhancement trading relationships,” which is clearly wrong. So split infinitives that involve a word that can be used either as a noun or verb clearly create a problem of meaning, and I regard that as a semantic or word choice error. Of course, if ambiguous communication results from splitting an infinitive, the damage is done, so it is better to not split the infinitive in the first place.
Thank you for this! Luckily, my English teachers and professors always focused more on writing style than actual sentence structure.
Will you believe that I went to University to study English Language as my first degree at the Central University College Based at Mataheko in Accra City the Capital of Ghana and I realised that the Course Content was very hypnotic and obnoxious to my Understanding and I thereby say with fortitude that the Issues Under Consideration were stated based on the Syllabus and Curricullum from the year 2004 and 2005 and this was effected from the Academic year 2006/2007.
I should say that the School is not well established and noted,However In the USA The graduates do send their Documents to gain admissions to Graduate Schools to pursue their various courses in Discussion of Masters and Doctorates in relation to Demand and Supply.
Yours Faithfully and Sincerely James Bedu Kodjo Graham.
Especially the Caribbean English that discussed the linkages between Colonization and European Settlement that Overtook the Islands of the Bermuda Seas.I intend to write a mini thesis on the Base of the Unix System that articulates the relations between Computer Science and the Field of Physics and Mathematics.
I will lay out the structure in Word Format and the Introduction of more advanced concepts in MCDBA and the Foundation of the the Poytechnic system in Ghana and West Africa to the rest of the world.Watch out for it.
This will be my estimation as implied in the Log Cabin and room and I will render an account to the Committee as and when it becomes necessary in the long term and the long run.
Transcripts and Work documents will be forthcoming and enabled over the long run.
It should be conceived that Diplomacy and the Rule of Law will be side attractions to the Issues Brought across in the Renderment of the English Language as it pertains to the world of Broadcasting and the Fields of Visual Arts and the Theatre Arts.
This is Advertising and I salute the United Kingdom Writing Contest for allowing my entry in the years 2009 2010 2011 and Looking forward to 2012 2013 2014.
Sublimingly as a Tennis Supporter It amazing to note that Tennis from Outside fro France where not allowed to Contest the French Open without any barriers until the year 1925.
Thankfully Today Tennis is much more international and those Crazy Restrictions have been removed completely.
Yours Truly James Bedu Kodjo Graham.
In closing this article I sday to you thanks for inventing and laying out the Internet and the web.It has made the web a better and Interconnected Place for everyone in the world.
Yours Truly and Sincerely James Bedu Kodjo Graham.CUC Class of 2010 and 2011.
Reporting to the British High Commission and Venture from Accra Ghana West Africa.
Telephone Number:00233 0302 772 991 Change the Numbers from nine to double eight to reach me.
Yours Faithfully and Sincerely James Bedu Graham.
Dude, this reads like you’re going to ask us to help you get 2 million American dollars out of your country by depositing money in an offshore account, for which you will gladly pay us 20% at a later date.
Truly and Humbly Yours,
Deposed Prince Semy of Zamunda
Enough of the English How about Studying and writing other Languages like French Russian and Polish.
It’s incredible to find out, that I have follow the same pattern. I think I’ll be seeing my writing in a different light from now on.
I love this! Great post. I have always started sentences with “And”……..I’m just a bad ass like that lol
What about beginning a sentence with “however.” Bad grammar or no problem?
What about failing to end an interrogatory sentence with a question mark? 🙂
Another commenter asked about that because he had been told it was wrong. I’ve never heard any objection to starting with “however.”
Now I’m reviewing in my mind the usual methods I use when writing. LOL. Thanks for sharing! Congratulations in being Freshly Pressed! 🙂
Sheba To R2D2
I offered you the talents of my heart-songs,
the treasures of my many love-gifts,
the spices of my sighs and tears and laughter.
You gave me someone’s rules of grammar,
the data and instructions of your programmers,
the model manual of your functions and duties.
How can I not forgive you for being what you are?
Do you two know each other? lol
Grammar is somewhat like a primary need of a Language… I mean as clothes are to humans. Humans can live with and without clothes. The former, a life of dignity and the latter a life without dignity. Your clothes can be minimal or flambouyant or decorative. Grammar also may be minimal, flambouyant or decorative. Clothes add to the looks of humans: likewise, Grammar adds to the elegance of Language. Propriety recommends Clothes and Grammar.
I am delighted I found your blog on this subject. Thank you.
very good points 🙂
thumbs up.
‘When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split. ‘ Raymond Chandler.
The example for “You can’t end a sentence with a preposition” is really something.
I loved this! I have been fed all those “rules” by my English teachers. I am currently and English education major, I’ll be sure to avoid those.
[…] Found that here. […]
Great post – My english teachers and uni lecturers would be mortified. BUT I completely agree with this…
Thank you for this great post and this wonderful blog. Keep it up! I’ve got so much to learn ^_^
I think I’m back online.
Reading this reminds me of my English classes in high school. I believe every English teachers have their own preference on what defines good writing.
http://kalafels.wordpress.com/
The key point to remember, in writing or speaking, is that you are trying to communicate. Regardless of what any “teacher” tells you, or doesn’t, are you getting your idea or point across correctly? Does the reader/listener understand what you are really attempting to communicate?
I really appreciated this post. As a writer, I do break the so called “rules.” Remember, every teacher was at one time a student. If they were taught incorrectly, likely they will teach incorrectly as well. I find that because these “rules” are so often misunderstood, putting And at the beginning of a sentence can draw your eye there and can make the sentence stand out. However, as Lisa wrote, doing this too often comes off as laziness, and can actually have the reverse effect.
Happy writing, and reading. Thanks for the post Lisa!
Eric Hotchkiss
inkedkisses.wordpress.com
author@inkedkisses.com
Brilliant post. I realised that I have been holding those myths myself and was one of the “overzealous followers”. But it was very useful. I do have one question though, the whole “you and I” thing. Is it ever possible to have a case where it can be “me and you”?
I think the prize for “Best Blog Comment” should be given to you and me. (Saying “you and I” would be wrong.)
Really? My entire time while learning and studying English, teachers and lecturers have stressed that “you and I” is right.
“You and I” is always right as a subject:
You and I should see that new movie.
You and I are always getting into trouble.
“You and me” is correct as the object: The strangest misadventures happen to you and me.
To test which pronoun is correct, remove the other person and see if “I” or “me” sounds better:
“I should go to see that new movie” or “Me should go to see that new movie”?
“The strangest misadventures happen to me” or “The strangest misadventures happen to I”?
I would prefer my students know how to transition into technical writing rather than having the ability because all they know is “ebonics” (btw: I hate this term, but knew you would understand what i was talking about). Oh, and can I PLEASE get a paper without an lol in it? Dr, Kenyjatta was big on being able to perform both styles, now I know what he meant as an educator. One’s speech and written language should be able to be flexible. People limit themselves when they can’t transition or vary their writing styles. It may even cost them a job offer.
What I did on my holidays:
I went to St Ives. And I met a man with seven wives. And each wife had seven sacks. And each sack had seven cats….
Writing is difficult, and children learn good writing slowly. Giving them Hard Rules like do not start a sentence with And makes sense, because it helps them to write at the time. And, later, they will learn how to break those rules. Don’t be too hard on the teachers.
This is an excellent read and all too true. Thank you.
I thoroughly enjoyed this article and so true in essence.Thank you.
But of course. Thank you
All of that is so true. Thank you for telling me that. I’m in 2nd grade so I didn’t know that.
I thought of another thing regarding the mis-teaching about prepositions.
I have a DVD of the History special, “Last Stand of the 300.” In 1 part, Dr. Richard Gabriel says, with the question as if somebody had asked him that, “Did Leonidas think it was a suicide mission to begin with? Maybe so, maybe not. What he did understand that it was was . . . a chance for Spartan and personal glory, which is what motivated the Spartans to begin with.”
I guess Dr. Gabriel author of “Empires at War,” wouldn’t necessarily have been better off to replace those 2 instances of “to begin with” with “in the 1st place,” thought they mean the same thing.
Yes, I think “to begin with” captures the meaning slightly better even though, as you said, technically they are the same. That’s one of the odd things about the supposed rule about prepositions at the end: it negates phrases that would be perfectly acceptable elsewhere in the sentence!
Actually, I think that both “to begin with” and “in the first place” make more sense at the end.
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What a great article to display on a blog. Going to Catholic School made writing extremely difficult, there were not many spoken words in class and I feel its also important to connect verbal freedom with improved writing. I believe they go hand in hand.
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Thanks for your support. I used one of the free WordPress themes and added my own picture to it. WordPress allows some customization within the theme as well.
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{post|submit|publish|put up} and if I {may just|may|could} I {want to|wish to|desire to} {suggest|recommend|counsel} you {few|some} {interesting|fascinating|attention-grabbing} {things|issues} or
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Ahaa, its {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {discussion|conversation|dialogue} {regarding|concerning|about|on the topic of} this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} {here|at this place} at this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site},
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{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hello|Hey} just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
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off the screen in {Ie|Internet explorer|Chrome|Firefox|Safari|Opera}.
I’m not sure if this is a {format|formatting} issue or something to do with {web browser|internet browser|browser} compatibility but I {thought|figured} I’d post to let you know.
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though! Hope you get the {problem|issue} {solved|resolved|fixed} soon.
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This is a topic {that is|that’s|which is} {close to|near to} my heart… {Cheers|Many thanks|Best wishes|Take care|Thank you}! {Where|Exactly where} are your contact details though?|
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as I found this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} at this
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I’m {shocked|amazed|surprised} at how {quick|fast} your blog loaded on my {mobile|cell phone|phone} .. I’m
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with {some|a few} {%|p.c.|percent} to {force|pressure|drive|power} the message {house|home} {a bit|a little bit}, {however|but} {other than|instead of} that, {this is|that is} {great|wonderful|fantastic|magnificent|excellent} blog. {A great|An excellent|A fantastic} read. {I’ll|I will} {definitely|certainly} be back.|
I visited {multiple|many|several|various} {websites|sites|web sites|web pages|blogs} {but|except|however} the audio {quality|feature} for audio songs {current|present|existing} at this {website|web site|site|web page} is {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {marvelous|wonderful|excellent|fabulous|superb}.|
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Greetings! {Very helpful|Very useful} advice {within this|in this particular} {article|post}! {It is the|It’s the} little changes {that make|which will make|that produce|that will make} {the biggest|the largest|the greatest|the most important|the most significant} changes. {Thanks a lot|Thanks|Many thanks} for sharing!|
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{Wow|Whoa|Incredible|Amazing}! This blog looks {exactly|just} like my old one! It’s on a {completely|entirely|totally} different {topic|subject} but it has pretty much the same {layout|page layout} and design. {Excellent|Wonderful|Great|Outstanding|Superb} choice of colors!|
{There is|There’s} {definately|certainly} {a lot to|a great deal to} {know about|learn about|find out about} this {subject|topic|issue}. {I like|I love|I really like} {all the|all of the} points {you made|you’ve made|you have made}.|
{You made|You’ve made|You have made} some {decent|good|really good} points there. I {looked|checked} {on the internet|on the web|on the net} {for more info|for more information|to find out more|to learn more|for additional information} about the issue and found {most individuals|most people} will go along with your views on {this website|this site|this web site}.|
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I {simply|just} {could not|couldn’t} {leave|depart|go away} your {site|web site|website} {prior to|before} suggesting that I {really|extremely|actually} {enjoyed|loved} {the standard|the usual} {information|info} {a person|an individual} {supply|provide} {for your|on your|in your|to your} {visitors|guests}? Is {going to|gonna} be {back|again} {frequently|regularly|incessantly|steadily|ceaselessly|often|continuously} {in order to|to} {check up on|check out|inspect|investigate cross-check} new posts|
{I wanted|I needed|I want to|I need to} to thank you for this {great|excellent|fantastic|wonderful|good|very good} read!! I {definitely|certainly|absolutely} {enjoyed|loved} every {little bit of|bit of} it. {I have|I’ve got|I have got} you {bookmarked|book marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} {to check out|to look at} new {stuff you|things you} post…|
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What’s up}, just wanted to {mention|say|tell you}, I {enjoyed|liked|loved} this {article|post|blog post}. It was {inspiring|funny|practical|helpful}. Keep on posting!|
I {{leave|drop|{write|create}} a {comment|leave a response}|drop a {comment|leave a response}|{comment|leave a response}} {each time|when|whenever} I {appreciate|like|especially enjoy} a {post|article} on a {site|{blog|website}|site|website} or {I have|if I have} something to {add|contribute|valuable to contribute} {to the discussion|to the conversation}. {It is|Usually it is|Usually it’s|It’s} {a result of|triggered by|caused by} the {passion|fire|sincerness} {communicated|displayed} in the {post|article} I {read|looked at|browsed}. And {on|after} this {post|article} Lies Your English Teacher Told You | Easy Tips for Business Writers. I {{was|was actually} moved|{was|was actually} excited} enough to {drop|{leave|drop|{write|create}}|post} a {thought|{comment|{comment|leave a response}a response}} {:-P|:)|;)|;-)|:-)} I {do have|actually do have} {{some|a few} questions|a couple of questions|2 questions} for you {if you {don’t|do not|usually do not|tend not to} mind|if it’s {allright|okay}}. {Is it|Could it be} {just|only|simply} me or {do|does it {seem|appear|give the impression|look|look as if|look like} like} {some|a few} of {the|these} {comments|responses|remarks} {look|appear|come across} {like they are|as if they are|like} {coming from|written by|left by} brain dead {people|visitors|folks|individuals}? 😛 And, if you are {posting|writing} {on|at} {other|additional} {sites|social sites|online sites|online social sites|places}, {I’d|I would} like to {follow|keep up with} {you|{anything|everything} {new|fresh} you have to post}. {Could|Would} you {list|make a list} {all|every one|the complete urls} of {your|all your} {social|communal|community|public|shared} {pages|sites} like your {twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile|linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed|Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile}?|
{Hi there|Hello}, I enjoy reading {all of|through} your {article|post|article post}. I {like|wanted} to write a little comment to support you.|
I {always|constantly|every time} spent my half an hour to read this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site}’s {articles|posts|articles or reviews|content} {everyday|daily|every day|all the time} along with a {cup|mug} of coffee.|
I {always|for all time|all the time|constantly|every time} emailed this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site} post page to all my {friends|associates|contacts}, {because|since|as|for the reason that} if like to read it {then|after that|next|afterward} my {friends|links|contacts} will too.|
My {coder|programmer|developer} is trying to {persuade|convince} me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the {expenses|costs}. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using {Movable-type|WordPress} on {a number of|a variety of|numerous|several|various} websites for about a year and am {nervous|anxious|worried|concerned} about switching to another platform. I have heard {fantastic|very good|excellent|great|good} things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can {transfer|import} all my wordpress {content|posts} into it? {Any kind of|Any} help would be {really|greatly} appreciated!|
{Hello|Hi|Hello there|Hi there|Howdy|Good day}! I could have sworn I’ve {been to|visited} {this blog|this web site|this website|this site|your blog} before but after {browsing through|going through|looking at} {some of the|a few of the|many of the} {posts|articles} I realized it’s new to me. {Anyways|Anyhow|Nonetheless|Regardless}, I’m {definitely|certainly} {happy|pleased|delighted} {I found|I discovered|I came across|I stumbled upon} it and I’ll be {bookmarking|book-marking} it and checking back {frequently|regularly|often}!|
{Terrific|Great|Wonderful} {article|work}! {This is|That is} {the type of|the kind of} {information|info} {that are meant to|that are supposed to|that should} be shared {around the|across the} {web|internet|net}. {Disgrace|Shame} on {the {seek|search} engines|Google} for {now not|not|no longer} positioning this {post|submit|publish|put up} {upper|higher}! Come on over and {talk over with|discuss with|seek advice from|visit|consult with} my {site|web site|website} . {Thank you|Thanks} =)|
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{A person|Someone|Somebody} {necessarily|essentially} {lend a hand|help|assist} to make {seriously|critically|significantly|severely} {articles|posts} {I would|I might|I’d} state. {This is|That is} the {first|very first} time I frequented your {web page|website page} and {to this point|so far|thus far|up to now}? I {amazed|surprised} with the {research|analysis} you made to {create|make} {this actual|this particular} {post|submit|publish|put up} {incredible|amazing|extraordinary}. {Great|Wonderful|Fantastic|Magnificent|Excellent} {task|process|activity|job}!|
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{Hello|Hi|Hello there|Hi there|Howdy|Good day|Hey there}! {I just|I simply} {would like to|want to|wish to} {give you a|offer you a} {huge|big} thumbs up {for the|for your} {great|excellent} {info|information} {you have|you’ve got|you have got} {here|right here} on this post. {I will be|I’ll be|I am} {coming back to|returning to} {your blog|your site|your website|your web site} for more soon.|
I {always|all the time|every time} used to {read|study} {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} in news papers but now as I am a user of {internet|web|net} {so|thus|therefore} from now I am using net for {articles|posts|articles or reviews|content}, thanks to web.|
Your {way|method|means|mode} of {describing|explaining|telling} {everything|all|the whole thing} in this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} is {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious}, {all|every one} {can|be able to|be capable of} {easily|without difficulty|effortlessly|simply} {understand|know|be aware of} it, Thanks a lot.|
{Hi|Hello} there, {I found|I discovered} your {blog|website|web site|site} {by means of|via|by the use of|by way of} Google {at the same time as|whilst|even as|while} {searching for|looking for} a {similar|comparable|related} {topic|matter|subject}, your {site|web site|website} {got here|came} up, it {looks|appears|seems|seems to be|appears to be like} {good|great}. {I have|I’ve} bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
{Hello|Hi} there, {simply|just} {turned into|became|was|become|changed into} {aware of|alert to} your {blog|weblog} {thru|through|via} Google, {and found|and located} that {it is|it’s} {really|truly} informative. {I’m|I am} {gonna|going to} {watch out|be careful} for brussels. {I will|I’ll} {appreciate|be grateful} {if you|should you|when you|in the event you|in case you|for those who|if you happen to} {continue|proceed} this {in future}. {A lot of|Lots of|Many|Numerous} {other folks|folks|other people|people} {will be|shall be|might be|will probably be|can be|will likely be} benefited {from your|out of your} writing. Cheers!|
{I am|I’m} curious to find out what blog {system|platform} {you have been|you happen to be|you are|you’re} {working with|utilizing|using}? I’m {experiencing|having} some {minor|small} security {problems|issues} with my latest {site|website|blog} and {I would|I’d} like to find something more {safe|risk-free|safeguarded|secure}. Do you have any {solutions|suggestions|recommendations}?|
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{I am|I’m} {extremely|really} {inspired|impressed} {with your|together with your|along with your} writing {talents|skills|abilities} {and also|as {smartly|well|neatly} as} with the {layout|format|structure} {for your|on your|in your|to your} {blog|weblog}. {Is this|Is that this} a paid {subject|topic|subject matter|theme} or did you {customize|modify} it {yourself|your self}? {Either way|Anyway} {stay|keep} up the {nice|excellent} {quality|high quality} writing, {it’s|it is} {rare|uncommon} {to peer|to see|to look} a {nice|great} {blog|weblog} like this one {these days|nowadays|today}..|
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{I’m|I am} not sure where {you are|you’re} getting your {info|information}, but {good|great} topic. I needs to spend some time learning {more|much more} or understanding more. Thanks for {great|wonderful|fantastic|magnificent|excellent} {information|info} I was looking for this {information|info} for my mission.|
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[…] photo […]
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Hi ,I was don’t know how to begin your own weblog ?
[…] you remember the writing rules your teachers told you not to break? To this day, I still have visions of my Year 4 teacher telling us to recite ‘Never start a […]
[…] you remember the writing rules your teachers told you not to break? To this day, I still have visions of my Year 4 teacher telling us to recite ‘Never start a […]
Excellent! As an elementary school student, I have aso been fed a few of “don’t put ands in front of the sentence!” etc. Now that I’m homeschooled and am in fifth grade AND have read your post, I am aware of these ridiculous rules. You are a great college English instructor! (Though I’m not really sure what college English instructors do because I’m barely a college student 🤣🤪 LOL) I’m a girl, by the way.
sorry, also. Not aso.
I learned soooooo much from this! I thought my mom was grammatically incorrect when she wrote “[some words]. And, …” in an email. Now I know she was right. So anyways I learned very much from your blog! And will learn more from my “Grammar Town” book by Michael Clay Thompson. It’s an excellent book which has some of its example sentences or practice sentences start with conjunctions. I would recommend you buy that book. It’s an excellent book with Level 1-4. Level 1: 8 parts of speech. Level 2: 5 parts of the sentence. Level 3: Phrases. Level 4: Clauses. Michael Clay Thompson has more English books; Building Poems, Practice Town, and Paragraph Town. He has many other great books too.