I had a discussion today with a friend over the validity of using (coordinating, correlative) conjunctions like but or and at the start of sentences.
His position was that it breaks a rule of grammar. However, I remembered a post on this site saying that conjunctions at the start of sentences is fine, and that lots of great writers have done that exact thing.
I mentioned this to him, and he challenged me to name an author who did this, and to provide him with examples of such. I found that to my shame I couldn’t name even one.
So what famous authors actually have used conjunctions at the start of sentences, and how did they do it?
Best Answer
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, third edition (1979), has a number of instances, as well.
Hans Christian Andersen, "The Emperor's New Clothes":
Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy (1869):
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey:
Francis Bacon, "Of Death":
Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution (1867):
Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on on Liberty:
The Bible (King James version):
Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus (1658):
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (1678):
Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Present Discontents (1770):
Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy:
Bishop Butler, The Analogy of Religion (1756):
Samuel Butler, Note Books:
And that takes us through the letters A and B.