Can the word 'but' start a sentence?

Answer 1

When I went to school in the 1960'(corrected)s, I was taught that beginning a sentence with a connective word like 'but' was poor grammar(corrected), but today, doing so has achieved acceptance ("So" in this sentence relates to the subordinate clause that starting a sentence with "but" was poor grammar, which means that you state poor grammar has achieved acceptance), and is an example of the ever-expanding liberalization (loosening) of grammar rules.

Starting a sentence with "but" is gaining more and more acceptance with functional illiterates who use excuses to cover for their lack of knowledge. Educated people do not agree with the "expanding liberalization" of grammar since this makes grammar completely subjective. If individuals ignore the defined uses of coordinating conjunctions based on how they feel, then there will be no consistency with written communication. Without consistency, there can be no understanding.

If you want to expand this concept further, if it is acceptable to ignore the defined use of coordinating conjunctions based on the feelings of the individual, then it can never be considered wrong to never use coordinating conjunctions as defined. A person can write: "I like to go to the park. But I don't like to use the swings," and this sentence will be considered grammatically correct because the person writing it may feel it's "acceptable" to start a sentence with "but," and their feelings cannot be corrected. Educated people know this is nonsense since there are such things as grammatical mistakes, defined usage of the parts of speech, the logic behind consistency in communications, and many other points that don't need to be added here.

Simply, if you want to fail a remedial writing course because you feel it's acceptable to the world that whenever, and however, you decide to use coordinating conjunctions, then feel free to start all of your sentences with "but." Other uneducated illiterates do it all the time when they are cranking out online newspaper content or blog posts, so why should you hold yourself to a higher standard?