I. Writing In The Law Office (cont.)

B. Common Grammar Problems (cont.)

Here is a short history lesson which explains the between/among dichotomy.

Language traditionalists believed that Anglo-Saxon was a better language than its modern daughter language. These people focused on the origin of between: "between" contained the Anglo-Saxon form for spelling of the number "2" -- "two." This spelling is comparable to the word "twain," which means "two." Therefore, figured these literal linguists, between should be used when there are two objects. By process of elimination, they decreed that "among" should then be used when there are more than two objects.

However, even traditionalists are forced to recognize that between should be used when comparisons of more than two things are made:

Using among in that sentence is just silly:

Also, most traditionalists would not expect you to say:

Most of us who are baby boomers can easily name at least one part of grammar because of the catchy tune of Conjunction Junction -- what's your function?

Keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with beginning a sentence with a conjunction ("but" or "and"). But you should be careful how often you do it. And it can certainly be overused. But there is no rule that prohibits this usage. And it sometimes makes your writing flow more naturally. But as this paragraph illustrates, continually beginning sentences with "but" and "and" gets on the reader's nerves.

Nevertheless, there is no real rule against beginning a sentence with a conjunction.