Can you start a sentence with but or and

The goal of __ painters was not to make a photographic representation of a subject, but to capture the impression of a particular moment in time a) still artist b) realist c) impressionist

Which statement best explains how the setting affects the meaning of the story? a. the water and wave motif conveys the queasy feeling the narrator has when walking alone at night. b. the firefly light conveys a feeling of nostalgia for long summer evenings spent with family. c. the phrase whispering and murmurs" suggests that the main character has fits of madness. d. the comparison of the street to a graveyard suggests that something is terribly wrong with society.

Why is reasoning relivant to reading and evaluate text?