What grammar is not

As we struggle to come to terms with the complexities of grammar, it is interesting to see how others use ‘grammar’ and other linguistic terms to make what they say seem more significant and complex than it actually is. Below is an item from Private Eye’s ‘Pseud’s Corner’ (No 1074, 2003, p. 13):

Judges at a competitive fencing bout are licensed hermeneuticists, their job to parse the grammar of flashing steel and to decide which hit lawfully landed first.

It is this essentially social and semantically pregnant nature of swordplay that explains why it still holds a fascination.

[Steven Poole, The Guardian, reviewing Richard Cohen’s By the Sword]

Oh well, back to those flashing VPs and the stylistically pregnant nature of textually grammatical choice . . .

Close this window before continuing your session.