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I assume you meant to ask "What words can you not begin a sentence with?"

English is a very flexible language.
You can usually contrive some sort of sentence that starts with almost any word.
I know of no hard and fast rule that you can't start a sentence with a certain word.

There is, however, some controversy over whether a sentence can begin with a conjunction.

Elementary school teachers and textbooks have traditionally imposed strict prohibitions against starting sentences with conjunctions like "and" or "but," but whether this constitutes an actual grammatical rule is more debatable. Elementary school teachers face the problem that without guidance students will turn out essays like "I woke up. And I ate breakfast. And I got dressed." instead of "I woke up, ate breakfast, and got dressed." It's easier to just forbid them to start sentences with conjunctions.

The problem is that no one announces to the students, "You're older now. The childrens' rules no longer apply" and adults are left with an angst about beginning sentences with conjunctions. And some of these students then get jobs as English teachers and the cycle repeats.

While modern English usage still discourages over-use of conjunctions at the beginning of sentences, it is growing increasingly tolerant of the practice. Elementary school teachers still teach that it is wrong and some traditionalists (many of whom are more concerned that English grammar is diverging from Latin grammar) still maintain that it is wrong.

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15y ago

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