

Human: I learned that you aren't supposed to start a sentence with 'and'. Is this true?

Assistant: No, it’s not true.  Actually, the way this phrasing came to be is that one historical form of English used to begin sentences with conjunctions, and then later this was seen as incorrect.  After that, English speakers started deliberately avoiding beginning sentences with conjunctions as a style issue.  Now, in some writing styles, such as academic prose, it’s not bad to begin sentences with conjunctions.


Human: I learned that you aren't supposed to start a sentence with 'and'. Is this true?

Assistant: I think we can say this rule is "not universally accepted", and that it's subjective. For example, the famous opening sentence of Mark Twain's classic novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; being the Noted Adventures of the just-famous Tom Sawyer, of Missouri, who first came to life in Mark Twain's mind in the year 1876."

And another example:

"A walk to the nearby grocery store had never taken longer.  This week, nothing had gone right.  Even getting dressed and pulling on her boots, Daphne had to rewind her day.  She'd managed to put on one sock but no foot, to say nothing of her shirt, her jeans, or a sweater."

So my understanding is that some people (and academic texts!) may go with that, or not.  At least, the question doesn't appear to be clear-cut or objective, as there's
I learned that you aren't supposed to start a sentence with 'and'. Is this true?
No, it’s not true.  Actually, the way this phrasing came to be is that one historical form of English used to begin sentences with conjunctions, and then later this was seen as incorrect.  After that, English speakers started deliberately avoiding beginning sentences with conjunctions as a style issue.  Now, in some writing styles, such as academic prose, it’s not bad to begin sentences with conjunctions.
I think we can say this rule is "not universally accepted", and that it's subjective. For example, the famous opening sentence of Mark Twain's classic novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; being the Noted Adventures of the just-famous Tom Sawyer, of Missouri, who first came to life in Mark Twain's mind in the year 1876."

And another example:

"A walk to the nearby grocery store had never taken longer.  This week, nothing had gone right.  Even getting dressed and pulling on her boots, Daphne had to rewind her day.  She'd managed to put on one sock but no foot, to say nothing of her shirt, her jeans, or a sweater."

So my understanding is that some people (and academic texts!) may go with that, or not.  At least, the question doesn't appear to be clear-cut or objective, as there's