MSGID: 2:5023/24.4222 68906432
PID: InterSquish 2.0.5.25Free
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Hi Mortar,

28.07.2025 18:26:10, Mortar M. wrote:

 AK>> But before they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice of
 MM> 1)  You don't start a sentence with words like "but" and "and".

But why shouldn't I? And could it be you made up this "rule" yourself
just now? :-)

 MM> 2)  It would be more appropriate to say, "But before they sat down 
 MM> to eat," or     just, "But before they sat down,", implying that 
 MM> they were sitting down to dinner.

I can see an excuse to say "to sit down to table", the same way you
would say "I'm back in town" or "He's back from school". Although some
weird cases of not putting an article where it apparently should be do
happen, like in the following sentence (it's from a police report):

    "...Robert Nastek was heading north on Olney Laytonsville 
     Road when he saw Kevin Costlow beating on the hood of car 
     occupied by Asian females".

Shouldn't it be "beating on the hood of -a- car"?


-- 
"I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the
 box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it."
 -- Terry Pratchett
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