Every Rule Here Can Be Broken, and Here Is How to Tell When
Good writing breaks rules constantly. So does bad writing. The reader distinguishes them, and it is worth knowing how, because it is not a mystery.
The three conditions
The break must do something. A fragment that lands a point is a device. A fragment that is simply an unfinished sentence is a mistake. Ask what the break achieves that the correct version would not.
The surrounding writing must be controlled. This is the one people miss. A deliberate comma splice in clean prose reads as a choice. The same splice in a document already containing three real errors reads as a fourth. You have to earn the right to break a rule by visibly knowing it.
It must be rare. Every device runs on contrast. One fragment on a page is emphasis; a page of fragments is a style, and usually an exhausting one.
The rules worth breaking
- Sentence fragments. For emphasis, or to mimic thought. She checked the figures again. Nothing.
- Starting with a conjunction. Covered in our guide to starting a sentence with and or but — it is not a rule at all, though it still needs rationing.
- One-sentence paragraphs. The white space does the work.
- Repetition. Deliberate repetition is a rhetorical device, and the instruction to vary your vocabulary is often wrong: repeating the right word is clearer than reaching for a synonym.
The rules not worth breaking
Some rules exist because breaking them creates genuine ambiguity, and there is no stylistic payoff:
- Subject-verb agreement. No effect available, and it reads purely as an error.
- Dangling modifiers. They produce accidental comedy, never intentional effect.
- Apostrophes in plurals. There is no version of this that reads as deliberate.
- Its and it’s. The most-noticed error in English. No upside.
The pattern: break rules about rhythm and structure; keep rules about agreement and reference. The first set governs how the sentence feels, the second governs what it means.
The rules that were never rules
A separate category, where there is nothing to break: splitting infinitives, ending on a preposition, and starting with a conjunction were all invented by people who wanted English to resemble Latin.
Knowing the difference between a real convention, a house style and a superstition is more useful than any individual rule — and it is the only way to make these decisions without either following everything blindly or ignoring everything confidently.
The honest test
Before breaking a rule, ask whether you could state it. If you cannot, you are not breaking it — you are just not following it, and the reader cannot tell the difference from the page.
Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.
