Rules for Writers

     Many grammar rules were taught to students in the beginning years of writing. I remember a specific book from which my classmates and I learned rhymes about prepositions and nouns. Though I think the name of that book was Shirley something, I can only remember some of what it taught me, not specifics. I do remember not being allowed to write the word "Because" or "However" at the beginning of a sentence. My teacher had this rule that if you could not understand the sentence when it is all by itself then it is not a sentence. I have followed this rule all throughout my schooling, or at least tried. I feel as though a person could ignore this rule for the same reason he or she would ignore the rule of not beginning a sentence with a conjunction. Its making a statement. It is giving emphasis to the meaningful statement that you ended just before. Another rule I learned was to never use first person in a research paper. Use the word "one" instead of "you" or "I".  Perhaps this is a contextual rule. A research paper for a psychological or sociological study for instance might involve the writer needing to tell where he participated in his study and his place in coming up with the results. Regardless this has always been the hardest rule for me to follow. I do not consider myself a good writer by any means so breaking some of these rules might be easier for me than I realize. I never built the habit of following the rules of writing, so it shouldn't be too difficult or uncomfortable for me to rebel against them with purpose.