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Grammatical Quotes

Grammar as craft, apprenticeship, and public measure.

These quotes treat grammatical skill as something learned rather than innate, including a writer who traced early lessons in structure back to performing plays as a young apprentice. Related craft reflections continue in the Art quotes on this site.

We do learn a thing or two from art. It may not be the one-to-one instruction of a moral lesson or the rote learning of a grammatical rule or mathematical concept. But the habits of mind art cultivates are important.

Quotes by Michelle Dean

Trump can't string a single grammatical sentence together, and at the podium, he is lumpen and awkward.

Quotes by Lionel Shriver

As a young writer, I learned a lot about grammatical structure from reading plays, from performing the plays. I think that was a wonderful apprenticeship.

Quotes by Jennifer Haigh

First and foremost, I'm an oral storyteller - I'll make a poetic choice over a grammatical choice every single time.

Quotes by Isobelle Carmody

Adequately Quotes

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

Quotes by Edward Sapir

No important national language, at least in the Occidental world, has complete regularity of grammatical structure, nor is there a single logical category which is adequately and consistently handled in terms of linguistic symbolism.

Quotes by Edward Sapir

Of all the mediums that influence language, I think film is the one that has the most effect. Not so much from the point of view of pronunciation and grammar. I don't think we pick up very many sounds and...

Quotes by David Crystal

I think if you write for long enough, you eventually have a problem with everything, because you start figuring out where you could be doing better. But as far back as I can trace, I always wrote clear, grammatical prose.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do these Grammatical quotes explore?
They explore how grammatical skill gets learned, from reading and performing plays to broader reflections on writing craft over time.
Is there a quote about learning grammar through theater?
Yes, one writer credits reading and performing plays as a young apprentice with teaching grammatical structure, calling it a wonderful apprenticeship.
Does any quote connect grammar to art more broadly?
Yes, one line argues that art builds habits of mind that go well past memorizing any single grammar or math rule.
Is there a quote criticizing a public figure's grammar?
Yes, one quote bluntly criticizes a political figure's inability to string a grammatical sentence together at the podium; it is presented as that speaker's own stated opinion, not an endorsement.
What other pages relate to this topic?
Readers often continue to Art and Character quotes for related craft reflections.

One line notes that art teaches habits of mind beyond any single grammatical rule, while another uses grammatical fluency as a blunt public yardstick for a speaker's competence. See also Character quotes.