#gramma

It's perfectly obvious that there is some genetic factor that distinguishes humans from other animals and that it is language-specific. The theory of that genetic component, whatever it turns out to be, is what is called universal grammar. ↗

— Noam Chomsky

#component #distinguishes #factor #genetic #grammar

French and German illustrate the misleading character of apparent grammatical simplicity just as well. ↗

— Edward Sapir

#character #french #german #grammatical #illustrate

Be able to correctly pronounce the words you would like to speak and have excellent spoken grammar. ↗

— Marilyn vos Savant

#correctly #excellent #grammar #like #pronounce

My, my, aren't we upper class and therefore faultlessly grammatical. ↗

— Sharon Green

#humor #dreams

What the semicolon's anxious supporters fret about is the tendency of contemporary writers to use a dash instead of a semicolon and thus precipitate the end of the world. Are they being alarmist? ↗

— Lynne Truss

#english-language #grammar #humor #lynne-truss #punctuation

[M]y favorite teacher was explaining that you don't say but however. These are pleonasms: the use of more words than necessary to express an idea. There are times in life that are very but however. ↗

— Stefano Benni

#grammar #language #life

Grammar is politics by other means. ↗

— Donna J. Haraway

#gender #grammar #linguistics #politics #nature

I can't think why fancy religions should have such a ghastly effect on one's grammar. It's a kind of intellectual rot that sets in, I'm afraid. ↗

— Dorothy L. Sayers

#religion #religion

People of very different opinions--friends who can discuss politics, religion, and sex with perfect civility--are often reduced to red-faced rage when the topic of conversation is the serial comma or an expression like more unique. People who merely roll their eyes at hate crimes feel compelled to write jeremiads on declining standards when a newspaper uses the wrong form of its. Challenge my most cherished beliefs about the place of humankind in God's creation, and while I may not agree with you, I'll fight to the death for your right to say it. But dangle a participle in my presence, and I'll consider you a subliterate cretin no longer worth listening to, a menace to decent society who should be removed from the gene pool before you do any more damage. ↗

— Jack Lynch

#language #misuse #ungrammatical #death

If grammar is the skeleton of expression and usage the flesh and blood, then style is the personality. ↗

— Arthur Plotnick

#grammar