A writing tic I’m tired of seeing
Paragraph construction that goes like this: Statement about how things are/should be/are generally accepted to be. The words “And yet” with a period after. Evidence of how the opposite of the statement is actually the case.
Please no more “And yet.”
I’m also not fond of: Statement. “But” with a period or exclamation point after. Evidence. I see this “But!” a lot in blog writing. The “And yet” has a more thoughtful feel while the “But” is maybe more precise and also forceful. I suppose because the “And yet” draws out the time between the statement about how things appear and the presentation of the evidence to the contrary.
I would have also thought the “And yet” thing was pretty informal, but I just saw it used in a NYT article.
I feel bad for the person who actually invented that technique because it’s interesting and has a cool rhythm, but now that so many people do it, it’s just annoying and seeing it used so much calls attention to the incorrect grammar whereas if you were coming across it for the first time, you’d be much more likely to accept it as one of those “know the rules of grammar and then break them in a responsible manner that works for the piece” type of things. In fact, I’ve been looking at the NYT article and trying to come up with a replacement for the “And yet,” and I can’t compose anything that is as economical, that sounds as nice with the rhythm of the sentences around it, and that has quite the same meaning. Nevertheless, the use of “And yet” continues to annoy me.
