Question/grammar

Famous quotes containing the words question and/or grammar:

    The question is whether they’ve reached a depth
    Of desperation that would warrant poetry’s
    Leaving love’s alternations, joy and grief,
    The weather’s alternations, summer and winter,
    Our age-long theme, for the uncertainty
    Of judging who is a contemporary liar....
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    Grammar is a tricky, inconsistent thing. Being the backbone of speech and writing, it should, we think, be eminently logical, make perfect sense, like the human skeleton. But, of course, the skeleton is arbitrary, too. Why twelve pairs of ribs rather than eleven or thirteen? Why thirty-two teeth? It has something to do with evolution and functionalism—but only sometimes, not always. So there are aspects of grammar that make good, logical sense, and others that do not.
    John Simon (b. 1925)