Grade school be damned

e-editor.co.uk: For those who live by the words :: editors and writers everywhere

But/however: Starting a sentence with “But” is deeply troubling to many would-be business writers. They rush to change it for “However,”, magnifying all the little shifts of direction that “but” can signal into great, portentous reversals. “However” should only be used when what comes next is a flat and unexpected contradiction of the previous idea, or when you are about to unleash a massive irony.