Throughout grade school and as a child I was taught several things in regards to writing. But two mandates stick out to me as more important than the others. Avoid run-on sentences, and never begin sentences with the word "and."
As a senior in college, and having written several papers, I find the first rule to be very true. Run-on sentences should be avoided at all costs. In the instances where I've gotten stuck, I normally am able to read the sentence aloud and fix it. I think reading your own work verbally fixes a lot of problems that are otherwise glossed over.
The second mandate that I find is often instilled into us is avoiding the use of words such as "and" to begin sentences. I must say that I'll sometimes break this mandate when writing certain pieces. Writing dialog for a screenplay, commercial or short film is an example. Dialog often doesn't always follow these rules.
In conclusion, the English language is quite confusing, often one of the hardest languages to learn. There seems to be a set of rules that are "givens" that one must follow. However, I strongly feel that these rules should sometimes be broken.
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