You’ve probably had a teacher or two who absolutely
forbid you to start sentences with but or and.
That teacher was mostly right. It’s not a good idea to pepper your
writing with these kinds of sentences. Still, the occasional sentence-starting but or and can
be effective.
• Josh thought he had a great plan. But
everything started to go terribly wrong when the hamburgers exploded.
In this example, the sentence-starting but injects
a little drama into the proceedings. It suggests that whatever happened
before was really bad.
• Ophelia sensed bad weather
ahead. And sure enough, the skies opened after dinner.
Again, the sentence-starting and adds
emphasis and drama. But if you use this trick too often, the effect
is lost.
