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Throwing Grammar Out the Window

© Arden Davidson

I've never liked rules. And the rules of grammar are no exception. I like starting sentences with "ands" and buts". I see no logical reason that a sentence can't end in a preposition or lack a verb. I find these rules arbitrary and stifling. I feel that structure and syntax are fine when you're starting out as a new writer, but until you learn to push the envelope and let all your creative juices flow with no limitations, your writing will be flat and unimaginitve. Here are some authors who feel the same way I do...

"Well, I don't know what syntax is, but if it has sin and taxes in it, it must be something to avoid." - Will Rogers

"Grammar is a piano. I play by ear." - Joan Didion

"English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgement and education. Sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street." - e.b. white

"In music, the punctuation is absolutely strict; the bars and rests are absolutely defined. But our prose cannot be quite as strict because we have to relate it to the audience. In other words, we are continually changing the score." - Sir Ralph Richardson

"A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point!" - Mistinguette

"I am afraid we are not rid of God because we still have faith in grammar" - Friederick Nietzsche

"There is a satisfactory boniness about grammar which the flesh of sheer vocabulary requires before it can become vertebrate and walk on the earth" - Anthony Burgess

"Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those between IBM vs. MAC and as fruitless as Coke vs. Pepsi and Boxers vs. Briefs." - Jack Lynch

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