Originally Posted by Cloud

Do English grammarians agree on anything? Even books that some teachers regard as being authoritative (Murphy being a great example) are simply written to suit the language.



So much of English is natural but wrong though - look at the way that Scots will use phrases like 'my hair needs washed' or 'the cat wants out' - both of those are absolutely natural to my ears too, but they're wrong.

Anyway, even if it's natural, it would be punished by Cambridge examiners. And given that Cambridge exams are the closest thing that English has to a standardised test that's widely accepted - then they do have considerable influence, even if you or I don't agree.



Probably because most of them are arguing for the sake of argument. It certainly was taught in my primary and secondary schools, and even in different countries. Or maybe they simply had bad teachers that accepted the use of 'because' to start a sentence.



It's as good a rule as you'll get in English grammar - bearing in mind that even accepted authorities disagree on English (oh, the joy of having to explain to someone why Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries aren't exactly the same).

Anyway, bearing in mind the widespread use of 'because' to start a sentence by people that can easily be called chavs, would you or anyone else educated really want to use it?

Do you really teach people to start sentences with because?