Never Start a Sentence With

Precisely......

Never Start a Sentence With

 

She said

Never start a sentence

 With an And or a But

And

 Went on to say

But

Poems are okay

Since

Such silly laws

Don’t

Always apply

They

May however

Sometimes 

Dictate or sway

What the good writer writes

 Or

Indeed what they say

…

 

Author's Note

Not sure whether just an English thing, or whether it still applies....

Reviews

[barleygirl]

In my humble opinion, the worst offense is an apology with a big negating "but" inserted midway! *wink! wink!* I try not to proclaim hard & fast rules (about writing or life in general), becuz it's bound to make a hypocrite out of me! Your poem is a sweet & playful way of calling out all hypocrites! We get a lot of that in the USA these days -- when lies are pointed out, rules can be dickered with! *sigh!* I wish I could keep my commentaries in the playful zone the way you do! *smile* Fond Nuggets, Margie

[Neville]

Gotcha...just wanna say thanks Big Time...........Neville and correspondingly speaking, big NUG on its way...

[Lydia Shutter]

Smiling here.....in poetry, all things are legit. In writing stories or essays, however, that is not the case. It is true....we must never start a sentence with "and" or "but". However, if you break this law, you will not be thrown in jail! Good one, Neville. Lydi**

[Neville]

Phew seems like I mighta started summat here. Thanks Lydi** I really do appreciate ya you know...And no buts......N

[emmajoy]

Tis said the best poetry comes from both heart and BY ignoring ruleS - that way it rings true.( Must try that some time!). A super sweet lesson on how to or not, thus (avoid the over-use of and..) like jacob, agree that used in the appropriate places And and But serve brilliant purpose in every day everything. But, ther are exceptsions! .

[Neville]

There are indeed emmajoy, there are indeed...Many thanks & much appreciated too........Neville

[Mrudula Rani]

Dear Neville, Thank you for that sound advice, I hear and speak ( not perfectly) português all day, where double negative still means negative ( sometimes even use triple negative to reinforce the negative) and all the verbs have genders ( I get a kick out of this one) and how one speaks reveals their sexual identity as well ( women with A, Men with O) The wonderful world of linguistics!!!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

well, actually writing teachers still teach this rule, simply because they are afraid students will write Fragments. But, actually you can start a sentence with And or But and have very nice, complete thoughts and if not an overused tactic, it will create some lively writing.
oh i love this poem....you hit me in my English teacher's heart.
j.

[Neville]

Well here sits one very proud English English student of yours...Thank you so much Sir

[Anise]

i had that ingrained in my head as a young child in school. :)
this made me smile
AND i think we should absolutely make our own rules when we write and just call it art
art and magic are like that, you can use those words to explain just about anything

[Neville]

And you Anise, well you are indubitably write, and so you are. But hey, how very rude of me, thank you, truly too.....Neville

[Anise]

You're welcome. And keep breaking those rules. :)

[Ghost]

Yeah sometimes I even get confused on things like this... Although I still do use but or and at the beginning of a line in my writes... Thanks for bringing this to light... Nice thought for today, thanks for sharing..

[Neville]

No problem & thank you.. glad I'm not the only one....