I have been trying to make a point on this list that no one has commented
on,  even to disagree with.  I don't mean to whine.  I've had plenty of
stupid ideas.  But here is one more try.  It seems to me that the neglect
of the discipline of grammar tends to reduce speech and writing to a
collage of direct quotations, as in "He was all like 'Think 'different,'"'
instead of, "He suggested that I think in an unconventional manner.'
Grammar is the study of the rules by which we generate new statements of
our own.  In this connection, I am struck by the epigram on the Emails of
Nancy Patterson, who is outspoken in her skepticism about the value
of traditional school grammar, viz., "The text is a tissue of quotations
drawn from the innumerable centers of culture."  It seems to me that this
is true only of texts created without a mastery of grammar.

On Thu, 15 Feb 2001, Nancy Patterson wrote:

>
> Nancy G. Patterson
> Portland Middle School, English Dept. Chair
> Portland, MI  48875
>
> "The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumberable centers of
> culture."
> --Roland Barthes
>
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.msu.edu/user/patter90/opening.htm
> http://www.npatterson.net/mid.html
>
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