and

conjunction

coffee and a scone

Syn:

together with, along with, with, as well as, in addition to, also; besides, furthermore; informal plus

••

and

It is rank superstition that this coordinating conjunction cannot properly begin a sentence:

• "Another stumbling-block to a certain type of academic mind is the conjunction and. It is often laid down as a rigid rule that a sentence should never begin with and. This was a point on which my own schoolmaster was inflexible. And quite recently a training college student whom I asked to comment on a passage from Malory condemned him for using ‘the objectionable conjunction and.’ And printers have an ugly trick of emasculating my meaning by turning my periods into commas because they happen to be followed by and. Taking down my Bible and opening it at random, I find that the eighth chapter of Exodus contains thirty-two sentences, twenty-five of which begin with and." (Philip Boswood Ballard, Teaching and Testing English; 1939.)

• "Many years ago schoolteachers insisted that it was improper to begin a sentence with and, but this convention is now outmoded. Innumerable respected writers use and at the beginning of a sentence." (William Morris and Mary Morris, Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage, 2d ed.; 1985.)

• "And the idea that and must not begin a sentence, or even a paragraph, is an empty superstition. The same goes for but. Indeed either word can give unimprovably early warning of the sort of thing that is to follow." (Kingsley Amis, The King's English; 1997.).

Schoolteachers may have laid down a prohibition against the initial and to counteract elementary-school students’ tendency to begin every sentence with and. The same superstition has plagued but (see note at but). But the very best writers find occasion to begin sentences with and — e.g.: "And one had better make use of whatever beauty, elegance, riches the translator's language possesses, and hope that something emotionally, intellectually, aesthetically equivalent will emerge." (John Simon, The Sheep from the Goats; 1989.)

Oddly, and is frequently misused for or where a singular noun, or one of two nouns, is called for — e.g.: "While third-party candidates have mounted serious challenges for senator and governor in almost two dozen states this year, building an effective third-party apparatus is rare." (New York Times; Oct. 5, 1994.) The phrase should be "senator or governor"; as written, the sentence says that in each of almost 24 states, third-party candidates were running for both senator and governor — an idea belied by the context of the article.

Some writers have a tendency, especially in long enumerations, to omit and before the final element. To do so is often infelicitous: the reader is jarred by the abrupt period ending the sentence and may even wonder whether something has been omitted. One may occasionally omit and before the final element in an enumeration with a particular nuance in mind. Without and, the implication is that the series is incomplete — rhetoricians call this construction "asyndeton." With and, the implication is that the series is complete. This shade in meaning is increasingly subtle in modern prose. — BG