In most of their other roles as joiners (other than joining independent clauses, that is), coordinating

conjunctions can join two sentence elements without the help of a comma.
Gandhiji and Nehru were contemporaries.
Gandhiji is respected for his adherence to nonviolence and truth.
It is hard to say whether DI or Maths is more time-consuming.
Beginning a Sentence with And or But
Several times I had been asked by students if one could begin a sentence or paragraph with and or but.
These students are sometimes armed with a sentence extracted from some book (beginning with And), and
sometimes with school grammar notes which said do not begin sentences with a conjunction. Do not
begin a sentence with a conjunction is disproved by half the language. Sentences that begin with
though, although, since, etc (also because) are in abundance and all these beginnings are conjunctions.
This is what R.W. Burchfield has to say about this use of and:
There is a persistent belief that it is improper to begin a sentence with And, but this prohibition has been
cheerfully ignored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon times onwards. An initial And is a useful aid to
writers as the narrative continues.
The same is true with the conjunction but.
And and but are used at the beginning of sentences as transitional devices. A transitional device is a word
that facilitates the smooth flow of one sentence into another. Such uses of and and but are perfectly legal.
Hence, not all sentences beginning with and or but are wrong. Some of them are good sentences.
A sentence beginning with and or but will tend to draw attention to itself and its transitional function.
Users should examine such sentences with two questions in mind: (1) Would the sentence and paragraph
function just as well without the initial conjunction? (2) Should the sentence in question be connected to the
previous sentence? If the initial conjunction still seems appropriate, use it.
Some of the uses of and, but and or are explored below. The examples below by no means exhaust the
possible meanings of these conjunctions.
And
To suggest that one idea is chronologically sequential to another:
Tanya sent in her application and waited eagerly for a response.
To suggest that one idea is the result of another:
The students heard the professors footsteps and promptly stopped talking.
To suggest that one idea is in contrast to another (frequently replaced by but in this usage):
Anita is academically brilliant and Sunita is creative in her thinking.
To suggest an element of surprise (sometimes replaced by yet in this usage):
Mumbai is a rich city and suffers from many symptoms of urban blight.
To suggest that one clause is dependent upon another, conditionally:
Use your credit cards frequently and youll soon find yourself deep in debt.
To suggest a kind of comment on the first clause:
Ashish became addicted to alcohol and that surprised no one who knew him.

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