It's Funny, But It's Not Grammar

Friday's We the Robots is funny (not surprisingly):


But Bob (he's our hero, the orangey one with a stripe) is not, despite what his coworker Stevo (yes, he's a robot with glasses and a beard) tells Mr. Johnson, "a stickler for grammar." He's a stickler for lexical accuracy.

Grammar doesn't tell you there's anything wrong with what Mr. Johnson says. Grammar doesn't look at meaning - that's semantics (yes, "just" semantics - "just" meaning).

"We defy your authority" is a completely grammatically correct sentence. "We your defy authority" is ungrammatical to those who fold grammar into syntax; "We defies yours authority" is unambiguously ungrammatical. But Bob's objection to "defy" is a semantic objection, based on the meaning of the word "defy".

Grammar's not about meaning. It's not about truth. And it's not about word choice*. Grammar's about the nuts and bolts of the sentence - the way the words fit together in case, number, and tense forms.

*Not saying those things aren't important, or can't be gotten wrong. Just saying they're not grammar.