Job Discussion Forums

[gaijinalways]

[Henry_Cowell]

From just a few books on my shelves:

There is a well-known prescription prohibiting the use of coordinators at the beginning of a sentence. Nevertheless, coordination often occurs in this position. Sentence-initial or turn-initial coordination is most common at the beginning of a turn in conversation.... However, it is also relatively common in writing....
Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English

The coordinating conjunctions and, but, or, and nor are sometimes used as transitional expressions at the beginning of a sentence. When this occurs, do not insert a comma directly after the coordinating conjunction unless a parenthetical element begins at that point....Beginning a sentence with and or some other coordinating conjunction (but, or, or nor) can be an effective means--if not overused--of giving special attention to the thought that follows the conjunction....
Gregg Reference Manual

Over the years, some English teachers have enforced the notion that and and but should be used only to join elements within a sentence, not to join one sentence with another. Not so. It's been common practice to begin sentences with them since at least as far back as the tenth century. But don't overdo it or your writing will sound monotonous.
Woe Is I

And, from two of the most widely used grammar and style references in the U.S., note the following advice:

Vary the beginnings of your sentences:
(3) Begin with a sentence connective -- a coordinating conjunction, a conjunctive adverb, or a transitional expression.
If any group has options to change and improve its life, it is the American middle class. And yet with freedom comes turmoil. (Gail Sheehy)
Harbrace College Handbook

There is a widespread belief -- one with no historical or grammatical foundation -- that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and, but, or so. In fact, a substantial percentage (often as many as 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice. Charles Allen Lloyd's 1938 words fairly sum up the situation as it stands even today:
"Next to the groundless notion that it is incorrect to end an English sentence with a preposition, perhaps the most wide-spread of the many false beliefs about the use of our language is the equally groundless notion that it is incorrect to begin one with 'but' or 'and.' As in the case of the superstition about the prepositional ending, no textbook supports it, but apparently about half of our teachers of English go out of their way to handicap their pupils by inculcating it. One cannot help wondering whether those who teach such a monstrous doctrine ever read any English themselves."
Chicago Manual of Style

[Glenski]

Henry,
Wonderful reference texts, and very accurate statements in them all... if our writers were native level speakers. My objections (being a Philistine and all) still stand for that reason. Japanese students are not even close to native level speakers and need far more hand-holding before the reach the stage where we should permit academic writing to reach the levels of the Chicago Manual of Style.

If anyone wants to proofread HS or university papers for me, come on over.

[Henry_Cowell]

[Glenski]

Henry,
I was being slightly facetious about being native speaker fluent. Still, how much success have you truly had in making those cautions to Japanese students? Japanese teachers show models so much that they make students light-headed. And, plenty of us foreign teachers (ones that I know, anyway) try to educate the students about not starting sentences that way, yet they persist.

One reason, as I've already explained, is that they see them in textbooks (and nobody except us foreigners points out that those are just conversation snippets, not things for academic writing).

Another reason is, like my old school, many Japanese teachers actually teach that such things are acceptable despite "cautions" and "models" from the foreign teachers. You can't win for losing.

Ever read a couple of papers by John Izzo, from Aizu University, on this topic?

[fluffyhamster]

[Gouki]

OP, tell your students that they are transitional words used to connect similar, additional or differences of ideas. Typically they (the ones that you've mentioned) should never begin a sentence unless the author chooses to place some emotional emphasis on the context.

[gaijin4life]

[Glenski]