Actually, I posted my response to Clevernick before I noticed it was a "Sticky" - which I assume means it has the authority of a Papal Bull or something (exaggerating for effect: no sarcasm intended). My post was really just to point out that there are no hard-and-fast rules in English grammar, although I do recognise all of those mentioned by Clevernick and I know they are widely accepted. But I now realise I have posted in the wrong place. Accordingly, I would be happy for it to be moved to a general discussion area (with a reference to Clevernick's post too) and hopefully it will provoke an interesting debate or deepen people's understanding of good writing. Lord knows, I need help there!

My attack - if attack it was - was against William Strunk, not Clevernick. Maybe his "rules" were appropriate in USA in 1918, but English is much less rigid nowadays, and has moved on from where it was at the end of World War I.