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Bechtel, John Hendricks, 1841-

"Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking"

It will require at least
several men to produce the intermixing and confusion which the word is
intended to convey.
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156
CHAPTER VIII
Conjunctions
As a general rule, sentences should not begin with conjunctions. And,
or, and nor are often needlessly employed to introduce a sentence. The
disjunctive but may sometimes be used to advantage in this position,
and in animated and easy speech or writing the coordinate conjunction
and may be serviceable, but these and all other conjunctions, when
made to introduce sentences, should be used sparingly.
Reason, Because
"The reason I ask you to tell the story is because you can do it
better than I." Because means "for the reason." This makes the
sentence equivalent to "The reason I ask you to tell the story is for
the reason that you can do it better than I." Use that instead of
because.
"Because William studied law is no reason why his brother should not
do so." The following is better: "That William studied law is no
reason why his brother should not do so."
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157
Only, Except, But
"The house was as convenient as his, only that it was a trifle
smaller.


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