Grammar

[T]he flesh of prose gets its shape and strength from the bones of grammar… – Constance Hale, Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose, 1999

[M]y spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. – A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh, 1926

Devotees of grammatical studies have not been distinguished for any very remarkable felicities of expression. – A. Bronson Alcott, “Culture: IV.—Mother Tongue,” Tablets, 1868

[A] man must be a d—d fool, who can’t spell a word more than one way. – Author unknown, 1855, anecdote from Jamestown Journal (Thanks, Garson O’To

“Correct” spelling, indeed, is one of the arts that are far more esteemed by schoolma’ams than by practical men, neck-deep in the heat and agony of the world. – H.L. Mencken, The American Language, SupplementII: An Inquiry into the Developme

I believe that every English poet should read the English classics, master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them, travel abroad, experience the horror of sordid passion and — if he is lucky enough — know the love of an honest woman. – Robert Graves (1895–1985), lecture at Oxford, quoted in Time, 1961 Decembe

There is no element in which language resembles music more than in the punctuation marks…. Exclamation points are like silent cymbal clashes, question marks like musical upbeats, colons dominant seventh chords… – Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969), “Punctuation Marks,” Notes to Literature, V

[S]ometimes… quotation marks are an absolute crime against humanity. – Richard Lederer and John Shore, Comma Sense: A Fun-damental Guide to Punctuation

Bad grammar makes me [sic]. – Author unknown

There are grammatical errors even in his silence. – StanisÅ‚aw J. Lec, Unkempt Thoughts, translated from Polish by Jacek GaÅ‚Ä…zka,

Grammar is a piano I play by ear, since I seem to have been out of school the year the rules were mentioned. All I know about grammar is its infinite power. – Joan Didion, “Why I Write,” 1976

Grammar Checker – A software program that is not needed by those who know grammar and virtually useless for those who don’t. – Richard Turner (1937-2011), The Grammar Curmudgeon, a.k.a. “The Mudge,” from “Th

A double negative is a no-no. – Author unknown

Grammar is politics by other means. – Donna J. Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, 1991

Do not be surprised when those who ignore the rules of grammar also ignore the law. After all, the law is just so much grammar. – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

The rules of punctuation seem arbitrary. How can they not, when an apostrophe looks like nothing in this world so much as a comma that can’t keep its feet on the ground? Or when, by simply placing next to that wafting comma its twin, one creates (of all things) a quotation mark? – Richard Lederer and John Shore, Comma Sense: A Fun-damental Guide to Punctuation

I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out. – Oscar Wilde, variously worded paraphrase, see quoteinvestigator.com/2015/10/25/c

Grammar: The grave of letters. – Elbert Hubbard, The Roycroft Dictionary Concocted by Ali Baba and the Bunch on R