Can you start a sentence with because?

A frequently asked question from my grammar classes is this one: Can you start a sentence with because? The short answer is, yes, if you make sure it is in fact a complete sentence. The longer answer is not an answer, but a question: where did you get the idea that you could not?

First, the short answer. You can start a sentence with because, as long as you make sure to fully complete the sentence. One clause beginning with the word because does not constitute a sentence. These are fragments:

*Because the newspapers reported it.*
*Because the river ran dry.*

If you follow the clause beginning with because with a complete independent clause, however, you are in business. These are complete sentences:

Because the newspapers reported it, the neighbors believed it.
Because the river ran dry, the dam would no longer provide electricity.

Now, the long answer. My theory as to why so many people think you cannot start a sentence with because is that school teachers use this “rule” to help students avoid writing fragments like the ones in asterisks above. You may find this rule useful yourself if you are prone to this error. Thus, if you do not allow yourself to start a sentence with because, you will automatically correct fragments beginning with because.

You might correct this fragment:

*Because I said so.*

By creating this complete sentence:

The children stayed inside this afternoon because I said so.

You may also correct fragments like the ones in asterisks above by rewriting so that because is not at the beginning:

The neighbors believed the story because the newspaper reported it.
The dam would no longer provide electricity because the river ran dry.

*Asterisks indicate a grammatically incorrect sentence.

How Not to Start a Sentence Part II

Do not start a sentence with due to or based on. Use because of or on the basis of instead. Due to and based on create adjectival phrases. Adjectival phrases modify nouns. When these phrases introduce a sentence, they are followed by a comma and are understood to be describing the noun right after the comma. Here are some problem sentences with fixes:

Incorrect: Due to an early deadline, we do not have an update on this story. [The adjective phrase Due to an early deadline appears to modify we, but in reality, we are not what is due to the early deadline.]

Correct: Because of an early deadline, we not have an update on this story. [Because of creates an adverbial phrase, which correctly modifies the verb after the comma, correctly explaining why we do not have something.]

Incorrect: Based on their analysis, the consultants recommended that we upgrade the software. [The adjective phrase Based on their analysis appears to modify the consultants, but as in the previous example, the consultants are not based on their own analysis.]

Correct: On the basis of their analysis, the consultants recommended that we upgrade the software. [On the basis of creates an adverbial phrase, which correctly modifies the verb recommended. However, this sentence sounds wordy.]

Better: After analyzing our needs, the consultants recommended that we upgrade the software.

Here is an example of based on used correctly:

Correct: Based on our careful research, this report is absolutely correct. [The adjective phrase based on our careful research correctly modifies this report: the report is in fact based on the careful research.]

Although it is possible to create a grammatically correct sentence starting with due to or based on, the great likelihood that you need an adverbial phrase, not an adjectival phrase, at the start of your sentence leads me to the advice you read above: Do not start a sentence with due to or based on.

How Not to Start a Sentence

Do not start a sentence with an expletive. I am not talking about bad-words here, I am talking about the word there or it followed by is or are. These are technically called expletives, or false subjects. Expletives are not grammatically incorrect. They are just boring and wasteful. Two of the most important words in any sentence are the subject and the verb. By starting with an expletive, you waste these two prime locations on content-free words. Sometimes even passive voice is preferable to starting your sentence with an expletive, if only to get the important nouns and verbs into the subject and verb positions. Sometimes the presence of an expletive at the front of the sentence can indicate that you have not included enough content in the sentence and have merely stated that something exists. Check out these upgrades to a sentence in which the expletive (ahem) has been deleted.

Instead of: There are three buttons at the bottom of the dialog box. [things existing]

Try: Three buttons are at the bottom of the dialog box. [important noun as subject]

Or: The dialog box has three buttons. [a different important noun as subject]

Or better: The dialog box offers three choices. [upgrade verb to an action, upgrade “buttons” to state what they mean to the reader]

Or even better: Click one of the three buttons at the bottom of the dialog box. [action verb using direct address to talk directly to the reader]

Or in the order a reader will need the information: At the bottom of the dialog box, click one of the three buttons.

Or giving more detailed content: At the bottom of the dialog box, click Delete, Rename, or Ignore.

It is not grammatically incorrect to start a sentence with an expletive (case in point, this sentence), but when you read over your own writing, consider whether the expletive could be upgraded to a more informative noun-verb combo, allowing you to pack more content into fewer words.

A big word for leaving out a little word

Sometimes creative or academic writers use artistic license in their writing. An example I have recently seen quite a bit is the use of asyndeton. How’s that for a grammar vocabulary word! All it means is that the writer has left out the word and or a similar connecting word. A classic place to use an asyndeton, or an asyndetic writing style, is in a list. To create a sense of wistful incompleteness, suggestive of more to come, a writer might do this:

His eyes were blue, alert, piercing.

Their lives, voices, stories were being discounted, silenced.

Whoa, that last one contains two asyndetons! All this creative license affects the tone of the writing. The same sentences with the word and reinstated sound much more boring and ordinary:

His eyes were alert, blue, and piercing.

Their lives, voices, and stories were being discounted and silenced.

They also sound much more down-to-earth and factual, rather than suggestive and ethereal. So in business, technical, and training text, do I recommend using asyndeton? Absolutely not. But if you are being creative, go for it!

Comma Inside or Comma Outside the Quotation Mark?

Does the comma go inside or outside of a closing quotation mark? The difference is less than a milimeter, but there is an ocean of difference to an editor. The Atlantic Ocean, to be specific. This is one of those things, like whether to put a u in color or spell gray with an e, that distinguishes British from American English usage.

First, let’s answer the question. In the United States, the comma goes inside the quotation mark. The period goes inside the quotation mark too. No logic or thinking is involved. You just put it on the inside, like this—she said, “Don’t even think about it,” then slammed the door. And this—He gave one good reason: “Because I said so.”

If it sounds like a fight, that is because in business and editorial offices this often does become a fight, because it is an arbitrary-seeming style rule. However, it is important for consistency, which is the mark of a high-quality publication or a well-constructed business document. And the tradition in American publishing is to punctuate quotations this way.

Here are the U.S. rules for other punctuation with quotation marks:

Colons and semicolons always go outside a closing quotation mark.

Question marks and exclamation points go either on the outside or the inside of the quotation mark, depending on whether the punctuation is part of the quote or not. Thus:

He asked, “How do you punctuate a question?” (The quote is actually a question, so the question mark is part of the quote.)

She shouted, “No way!”(The exclamation point is part of the quote.)

Did he say, “I don’t know”? (The quote is not a question, so the question mark does not go inside the quotation mark. The overall sentence is a question, so the question mark goes at the very end, after the closing quotation mark.)

Did she ask, “Where is the library?” (When both the quote and the overall sentence are questions, you arbitrarily opt for inside.)

Now that we have looked at the rules, it is time to look at the exception. In text that is specifying exactly what to type in something like a computer programming language or a URL, you do not put the comma or period inside the quote: Now type “http://www.iconlogic.com”, which is the web address of our company.

"Every time you put pencil to paper or move your cursor, you are making a judgment. Every time you don’t put pencil to paper or move your cursor, you are also making a judgment."

—Ellie Abrams

When we join things, are they always plural?

Which of the following is incorrect?

1. Both the status report on the bridge project, as well as the budget report, are in the folder.

2. The page proof as well as the list of corrections has been sent.

3. Smith, Michaels and Jones is our law firm.

I often see errors of verb agreement in business writing, even though at its most basic level, verb agreement is considered quite elementary. After all, almost no one who writes professionally would say “the reports is in the folder” or “the project are complete.”

How, then, do we end up with verb agreement problems in professional writing? Often the problems occur when more than one subject precedes the verb in a sentence.

The basic rule for multiple subjects is that when two or more subjects are connected by the word “and,” a plural verb is used. For example, “My dog and my cat [a total of two pets] are [plural verb] hiding behind the couch.”

The second rule, however, is that if you use a connecting phrase other than the exact word “and,” the subjects do not add up. So when you connect two subjects with phrases such as “as well as,” “in addition to,” “along with,” the additional subjects do not count. For example, “My dog [the main pet I am discussing] as well as my cat [which does not count, because I used a phrase other than “and”] has [singular verb] fleas.”

Another problem that comes up with “and” versus other connecting phrases is the use of the word “both” in front of any other connecter but “and.” The words “both” and “and” form a team, known as a correlative conjunction, and “both” cannot be used with other phrases. “Both Jack as well as Jill” is completely wrong. Either eliminate “both” or use “and” instead of “as well as.”

Finally, there is an exception to the “and makes plural” rule. I call it the macaroni and cheese rule. Some phrases containing the word “and” actually describe a singular thing, like macaroni and cheese. When you eat macaroni and cheese for dinner, you are eating one dish. The macaroni and the cheese are all mixed together to form one substance. So we correctly say “The macaroni and cheese [one substance] is [singular verb] good tonight.”

Not only other foods, such as spaghetti and meatballs, but also many proper nouns and job titles contain the word “and” but name a singular thing: steak and eggs is my favorite breakfast; the Stars and Stripes is waving atop the flagpole; Smith and Jones is the accounting firm; our secretary and treasurer is Mike.

With these rules and exceptions duly noted, by now you can be sure: No. 1 is incorrect, and Nos. 2 and 3 are correct.