A Few Conjunctions and Indefinites that Can Be So Wrong or Might Work So Well (in spite of themselves or us)

So, go to Phrases.org

by Jean Purcell

It is time to consider a few words and phrases that might, or might not, work for you, the writer.

To begin: Why--as the first word of a work, a theme, or a chapter--is SO so very irritating, annoying, and grating to the reader's mind and ear? After all, it is grammatically correct, say most wordsmiths and grammar gurus, to start a sentence with SO. 

Another example: Why was Snoopy's oft-quoted phrase, "It was a dark and storm night" so welcomed, given that such expressions have been labeled as "florid prose"? (Bulwer-Lytton also coined, for example, "the great unwashed and the pen is mightier than the sword, which some critics note as having "literary value."

To summarize: It is not good, say I, to start a piece of writing, whether essay, letter, book, chapter, or any other main division of a work or genre...with So. It is not advisable to begin a work or a sentence or a chapter with the word It, yet sometimes it works, as in "It was a dark and stormy night..., " the one time it was memorialized, thanks to Snoopy. 

And, to end this topic briefly, I will say that I try to catch and delete any beginning of a work or a chapter with the word And.

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"Airplanes,Trains, and Cars"-This Title Would Not Have Made It

"Airplanes, Trains, and Cars" could have been a title for this movie, but could not have brought the smooth-fitting tempo it deserved. And, it could not have fit the two unifying and high-level comedic performances that bring this story home. Steve Martin and John Candy deftly pilot, chug, and drive home this comedy of climate and technology foibles, complicated by the unpredictable human elements. "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" fits these actors' tempo. Within the framework of snowstorm and seemingly endless transportation glitches, life dumps on their characters trying to get home for Thanksgiving...in spite of each other. Martin and Candy lead this hilarious story to its moving end--with comic misdirection via planes, trains, and cars...er, automobiles. 

Titles matter.

 

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