Can I say "begin" instead of "start" here?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
No, you cannot say "begin" here because "begin" is a verb and "start" in this sentence is used as a noun. In order to use the word "begin", you would have to use it in noun form, which is "beginning". It would sound fine to replace "start" in this sentence with "beginning" since both are nouns and express the same meaning.