Week 6 Grammar Post: Conjunctions

During my last trip to the Writing Center I discovered I have problem with conjunctions. I decided to look up some rules for conjunctions in the "Nitty-gritty Grammar" book. Authors Edith H. Fine and Judith P. Josephson give this information it on conjunctions.

Conjunctions connect groups of words or parts of a sentence.

Common Conjunctions are:

and, but, since, though, as, if, so, unless, because, or, than, while

Examples:

Bessie and Daisy mooed happily.
Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I'm wearing green underwear.
You're a better swimmer than I [Implied: than I am.]
Julie couldn't reach Randy because he'd gone surfing.

But is it okay to start a sentence with a conjunction? It's fine--just don't do it too often. And avoid it in formal writing.

some conjunctions work in pairs:

both/and, neither/nor Whether/or not, either/or, not only/but also

Neither Romeo nor Juliet knew the whole truth.
She not only runs Latina but also writes articles for it.