The New York Times published an article about three grammar issues and I was inspired to write about them myself! The following is some basic writing help that answers your questions about split infinitives, whether to start sentences with “And” or “But,” and whether it’s okay to use a singular “they.”

Here are the grammar rules and non-rules that tend to be confusing to many writers (and readers):

1. Yes it’s okay to occasionally split an infinitive!  But if you can be graceful, it’s better not to split it.

“It’s okay to split an infinitive occasionally” would pose a lower risk of annoying your readers than the first sentence above, which, as you may have noticed, contains a split infinitive.

2. Yes it’s okay to start sentences with “And” or “But.”  But don’t overdo it.

3. “They” is NOT an appropriate reference to a single person!  Find a way around it.  Make your subject plural if that works, or say “he or she” if you really need to stay gender neutral and there’s no other way.  I ran into this issue in a recent blog post.  In it, I have the following sentence:

“If you haven’t already, sit down with your son or daughter and think about what colleges he or she might want to attend.”

My sentence is longer than it would have been if I had used “they,” and it’s not extremely graceful, but it is grammatically correct.  And correct grammar is essential for The Essay Expert!

4.  This one is not in the NYT article, but it’s one of my pet peeves:  the use of “this” without a reference.  This is not recommended.  The question always to ask yourself (or – see #1 – to always ask yourself) is, “This WHAT?” and tell us what the WHAT is.

Rather than say “This is not recommended,” try “This construction is not recommended.”  Otherwise your readers will not know what “this” refers to.

Shall I go into whether it’s okay to end a sentence with a preposition?  Let’s save that one for another day.

For the New York Times article, go to More FAQs on Style.