Re: Can "However" replace "But" at the beginning of a sentence?



Tony Cooper wrote:
>
> On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 15:04:20 +0000, Wood Avens
> <woodavens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >You should normally avoid "but" in formal writing. However, as has
> >been pointed out, Virginia Woolf used it with impunity.
>
> This term - formal writing - confuses me. I would not consider any
> novel to be an example of formal writing. The author may write in a
> formal style, but what he writes is representing what he writes about.
>
> I would consider formal writing to be something you'd find in a
> reference work. I can't see a reason for formal writing even in, say,
> a history text. It's when the writing involves agreements and
> contracts that there's a need for formal writing.
>
I think that formal here refers to register.



--
He and Evie soon fell into a conversation of the "No, I didn't; yes, you
did" type--conversation which, though fascinating to those who are
engaged in it, neither desires nor deserves the attention of others.
-+E.M. Forster, "Howards End"
.

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