Banished!

Thinking about the Banished Words of 2009 as per DailyWritingTips.com, and how the English language is a living, breathing thing -- new words created, others overused and misused and then "banished," and how spelling changes and grammar changes over time, as I recently discussed with a fellow grammarphile Sheryl McGinnis. When did it become okay to start sentences with the word "and." I don't know, but I agree with Sherry that there's something about it that "feels right."

I'm actually finishing up an MA in English/Creative Writing at Hofstra University, and as part of the program took a class called "The Grammar of Language" or something like that. Anyhow, I thought the class would be a way for me to firm up my grammar and have questions answered that have always nagged me, and I looked forward to the first day of class.

Well, much to my surprise, my professor told me that not only is it okay to start sentences with "and," but we can end sentences with prepositions and split infinitives to our heart's desire! It was all part of the evolution of the English language.

By the last day of class, my head was spinning. Wow!

The following semester, I was excited to use what I'd learned and put my newly freed prose to work on a short paper. When I got my paper back, it was sliced and diced with red ink with a larger than life C+ at the top. Apparently, the professor didn't share my previous professor's love of grammatical evolution.

Still, I write for a nice cross-section of publications and websites, and starting a sentence with "and" seems to be acceptable at all of them, even newspapers, such as Newsday. And we do it in WHY magazine all the time. And in this blog.

The more I think about, starting a sentence with "and," in addition to "feeling right," makes me feel a bit rebellious -- like a "maverick," if you will -- and that's why I like doing it. Perhaps the more mainstream it becomes, the more likely I'll move onto something else new and exciting.

Boy, I need to get out more...

WHY Xtra: 5 Pairs of Words Often Confused #2

1. amount/number: Use "amount" with quantities that cannot be counted and "number" with those that can be. She can't believe the amount of knowledge she gains from reading the weekly WHY Xtras. She only has a small number of tips left to read today.
2. lie/lay: "Lie" means to recline, and "lay" means to place something. You can lie down, but lay the book on the table first. Serious confusion arises because the past tense of "lie" is "lay." Yesterday, I laid down because I wasn't feeling well. Dang English!
3. i.e./e.g.: "i.e." means "that is"; "e.g." means "for example." A comma follows both of them.
4. who/that: If the noun you're referring to is a person, always use "who." The man who just walked into the store is wearing no socks.
5. who/whom: Ahhh, the dreaded who/whom. "Who" is the subject of the clause it introduces, and "whom" is used as the object of a preposition. Who is coming to dinner with Lucille? With whom is Lucille coming?