Grammar Rule No. 3: It's wrong to begin a sentence with 'but' or 'and'

This is one rule that you just don't to worry about. Go ahead and begin your sentences with but or and.

When you need to connect ideas in a paragraph, and comes in real handy. It gives your writing a logical and easy fluency that would otherwise be missing.

It's the same rule with but. The only time that you should avoid using a but at the beginning of the sentence is when you are writing to your clients. I say this to my participants who write to clients because a but at the beginning of the sentence sounds like you are turning down an offer right away. It's better to use however it provides other options. Look at these sentences below:

1. We do not have apartments in Tower 5 that meet your requirements, but we do have them in Tower 8, which is located in Phase 11, ten kilometers from Tower 5.
2. We do not have apartments in Tower 5 that meet your requirements. However, we do have them in Tower 8, which is located in Phase 11, ten kilometers from Tower 5.

Ignore this rule even if a purist tells you that you are wrong!

Where is the library at?

Grammar Rule No. 2 that you can ignore.

Here is an interesting anecdote on ending sentences with prepositions.

A Southerner stopped a stranger on the Harvard campus and asked, "Could you please tell me where the library is at?" The stranger responded, "Educated people never end their sentences with a preposition." The overly polite Southerner then apologetically repeated himself: "Could you please tell me where the library is at, you jerk?"

Never end a sentence with a preposition. Well, this needs a rethink.

According to Bryan A. Garner, widely respected language authority and author of A Dictionary of Modern American Usage, in Latin, preposition means “stand before,” and in Latin a preposition does indeed stand before other words; it’s the one part of speech that can’t end a Latin sentence.

But, English is not Latin. Although English grammar is modelled on Latin grammar, the languages are very different and some rules just don’t translate well. However, ‘could you please tell me where the library is at?’, is not correct grammatically because the preposition in this sentence has no object. But, look at these sentences:

What do you need this book for? (For what do you need this book?)

2. Whom are you waiting for? (For whom are you waiting?)

3. Which box is the pen in? (In which box is the pen?)

The prepositions in these sentences have objects, but try rewriting, ‘where is the library at?’

I would suggest avoid ending a sentence with a preposition in professional writing.