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Links in this essay will take you to information about the usage experts and their work. Numbers in parentheses are page references.
To read about this topic in The Bedford
Handbook, consult the Glossary of Usage. |
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Most usage experts think it’s
perfectly fine to begin a sentence with the conjunctive
adverb however (meaning “nevertheless”). But try
telling that to those who grew up with Strunk and
White’s The Elements of Style. Strunk and White
state their advice unequivocally: “Avoid starting a
sentence with however
when the meaning is ‘nevertheless’” (48).
Strunk and White are
to be commended for their pithy rules and commonsense
approach to usage, but on the matter of however,
their analysis is suspect. The authors offer two
rationales for their rule. One is that “when
however comes first, it means ‘in whatever way’
or ‘to whatever extent’” (49). This is not true. When
however is followed immediately by a comma,
readers know very well that it means “nevertheless.”
There is no possibility of misunderstanding. The
punctuation signals the meaning, as in the following
examples:
HOWEVER MEANING “TO WHAT EXTENT”
However hard Ed tried, Kristin always trounced him at
chess.
HOWEVER MEANING “NEVERTHELESS”
Kristin had always trounced Ed at chess. However, now
that he had improved his game through several months of
practice with an expert, Ed was confident he would
win.
Strunk and White’s other rationale is that however “usually serves better when not in
first position” (48). Presumably, style is the issue,
and the single example they give does indeed “sound
better” when however is delayed:
The roads were almost impassable. However, we at last
succeeded in reaching the camp.
The roads were almost impassable. At last, however,
we succeeded in reaching the camp. (49)
There are times,
though, when however works better at the
beginning of the sentence. Consider the example given
earlier. Surely the sentence is more graceful with
however at the beginning.
Kristin had always trounced Ed at chess. However, now
that he had improved his game through several months of
practice with an expert, Ed was confident he would
win.
Kristin had always trounced Ed at chess. Now that he
had improved his game through several months of practice
with an expert, however, Ed was confident he would
win.
In the second sentence, readers need to wait too long
to hear the word signaling the contrast.
Current usage
experts are nearly unanimous in rejecting Strunk and
White’s hard-and-fast rule. They point out that the
placement of however often depends on the
writer’s meaning, since the word signals which ideas are
being contrasted. Consider the following examples, given
by Bryan Garner:
Jane, however, wasn’t able to make the trip.
Jane wasn’t able, however, to make the trip.
(343)
In the first sentence, Jane, unlike others, had to
miss the trip. In the second sentence, Jane, who had
been hoping to go, had to miss the trip.
R. H. Copperud
explains that when a sentence opens with however,
“the stress is against [contrasts with] all that follows
it” (185). The same is true when a sentence opens with
but. Bryan Garner tends to prefer but to
however at the beginning of a sentence—not
because however is wrong at the beginning but
because the three-syllable word followed by a comma “is
a ponderous way of introducing a contrast” (342). In
informal contexts at least, he has a point. Let’s look
at the example about chess one more time:
Kristin had always trounced Ed at chess. However, now
that he had improved his game through several months of
practice with an expert, Ed was confident he would
win.
Kristin had always trounced Ed at chess. But now that
he had improved his game through several months of
practice with an expert, Ed was confident he would
win.
Conclusion: There is
nothing wrong with using however (meaning
“nevertheless”) at the beginning of a sentence. When
placing however, consider both meaning and style.
And at times (especially in informal writing), choose
but instead of however.
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