English Language Rule - When naming 2 items to represent a range, do they have to start with the same letter?

For instance... "I like all sorts of films from Jaws to Jumanji"





Whenever I see lists etc, people always use two items with the same letter, you wouldn't for example hear someone say "I read all sorts of books from Harry Potter to James Bond".





Now is this some sort of rule?





If not, does it look wrong when not adhered to or is it just me?

English Language Rule - When naming 2 items to represent a range, do they have to start with the same letter?
No- it's not required, it's just a "thing". Having common starting consonants like that is called "alliteration" and just gives things a nice ring. A lot of people use the same contruct ("from [x] to [y]"), but pick something starting with "A" and end with something starting with "Z" to illustrate a wide range as in "everything from Apples to Zebras" or Centrum's catch phrase: "everything from A to Zinc" ("A" and "Zinc" both referring to the vitamins).





FYI: It does not look wrong to me if either idea is not adhered to, but it's more effective if the range between the two items is wide alphabetically (A-Z) or wide in some other aspect, like genre ("from Herbie to Hellraiser", for instance).
Reply:Yes, I've seen this done before. I agree with the answerers above. One said that 'Jaws to Jumanji' indicates a limited range, the other said that 'Herbie to Hellraiser' indicates a large range. So the rule would seem to be that, whilst using the same initial letter, one has to choose different categories in order to express the range in some other way: From Mozart to Metallica, for example, or from Berlin to Beijing.
Reply:I have seen people do this over the years, and I never understood why. It would seem that films "from Jaws to Jumanji" would be a very LIMITED range, which logically conflicts with "all sorts." I specifically try to avoid this; if I want to designate a WIDE range, I try to choose extreme examples, e.g. "I listen to all sorts of music, from Abba to Z.Z. Top."





Perhaps they just like the effect of alliteration, but it always bothered me.





If someone said, "I read all sorts of books from Harry Potter to James Bond," it would make perfect sense to me, as one is more fantasy-oriented for young adults and the other action-oriented for all ages. I would take that to mean you read a wide range of books.
Reply:Not at all. Often, people will represent a gamut as from A to Z, but there is no need to do this either.
Reply:it's not a rule coz i aint got a clue what youre talkin about. where are you from