Health Editor’s Note: So we see that “rules” we were taught to live by in our English classes were not true rules. That being said, I still use the Oxford comma, you know that one before the and in a list of items. I have heard that it is no longer necessary or even correct to use that comma. I plainly do not care…I will still use it……Carol
Bogus Writing Rules
by Richard Nordquist/Thought.co
Any fool can make a rule
And every fool will mind it.
(Henry David Thoreau)
At the start of every semester, I invite my first-year students to recall any rules of writing they learned in school. What they most often remember are proscriptions, many of which involve words that should never be used to begin a sentence.
And every one of those so-called rules is bogus.
Here, according to my students, are the top five words that should never assume first place in a sentence. Each is accompanied by examples and observations that disprove the rule.
AND
- “Rin Tin Tin grew from being one dog to being a sort of franchise. And as his fame grew, Rin Tin Tin became, in a way, less particular—less specifically this one single dog—and more conceptual, the archetypal dog hero.” (Susan Orlean, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, 2011)
- Turning to The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996), we find that the prohibition against and at the start of a sentence “has been cheerfully ignored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon times onwards. An initial And is a useful aid to writers as the narrative continues.” Back in 1938, …
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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We used Oxford commas in engineering deliverables, since they add clarity.
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