Below are 176 entries into the National Grammar Day Tweeted Haiku Contest. Look through them and you will see how difficult it was to pick a few winners. If you think the judges erred, please use the comments section to call out your favorites.
Thanks to all who entered.
@veloquence: Indecisive two / Typo or short ellipses? / Worst grammar pet peeve.
@scottdhoople: an insight in sight / two prophets see prophecies / to profits seize
@danielgerling: “Lia: wire papa.”// No em dash? Oh, sad me! On// a paper I wail.
@DailyEngHelp: A living language / Ever changing lexicon / English is global.
@LindaDawnStone: “Alot” for “a lot”/ “Loosing” for “losing”: are these/ Just cause to un-friend?
@db_stewart: Each comma, is a/punctuation teardrop, thus,/my thoughts, are wrinkled.
@newyearsbabie: It pains me to read, after I submit my post, my grammar errors.
@bornponrivulets: on her breast I lay, never come the waking light, lie content to breathe.
@LindaDawnStone: You don’t understand/ Your grammatical errors/ Cause physical pain.
@PurplePenning: You could NOT care less. / “Just semantics” makes no sense. / Meaning is meaning.
@bornponrivulets: look on falling snow, roof knows not where ground begins, all is forgotten.
@kerry_mckinnon: He wrote with tamed tongue /His participles well-placed/ Dangle they did not.
@RobinL130: Between you and I / Theirs to many people who / Fuss about grammer.
@db_stewart: To the park I walk / my unruly syntax so / it can wag the dog.
@CCCopyEditor: I love that my kids / can use the subjunctive mood. / They’re future word nerds.
@CCCopyEditor: Laurie Anderson / says language is a virus. / Then I’m infected.
@PurplePenning: With bowl, spoon, and milk, / I like to add a little / serial comma.
@PFSPublishing: Exclamation mark / punctuate thoughts of horror, / “Conversate, a word!”
@decalino: Language changes; rules / evolve. Accept singular / “they”, gender unknown.
@PurplePenning: Editing, writing, / speaking, thinking, daydreaming / — grammar informs all.
@K_to_the_ukla: Your superscription/undulating curvaceous/ I love you tilde/
@WendyMackall: Editors rejoice//when all subjects and all verbs//can at last agree
@aubergineword: Period space space./That’s the way we learned to write./You only need one.
@p0sterchild65: Large words can be fun/But Proper context is key/When writing essays
@TheCinemaGirl: Language flows freely; | diagramming arrests me | with a harsh sentence.
@ProofingSandy: There is much joy as / they’re boldly marching forth with / their linguistic love.
@aubergineword: The parenthesis/Held a secret, whispered truth./Unclosed, it told all.
@EricaHamling: Learn the difference, between there, theirs and they are, it is grammar day
@PurplePenning: Intransitive hope, / hoping without an object, / cannot live. ~Coleridge
@micheledagle: CMS, AP / MLA, CSE, too / There’s a style for all.
@cmb63: A wealth of commas, A run on sentence for you, Where’s the period?
@K_to_the_ukla: The semicolon/ first used in fifteen ninety-one/ you shall top my list/
@kmrq32: Man, so many rules/Than or then, their is not they’re/Grammar is endless
@lightningvsbug: No one excuses / poor adding, subtracting, but / bad grammar passes?
@crgn: If you have written / too many words for the space / we will be careful
@RMTranslations: I have a master’s / But I received an M.A. / Do I get an A?
@judyhoracek: Words in their right place/ all meanings clear, tense as a /verb, not a feeling
@spamless: A grammar flasher: / I run naked through the crowd, / dangling compulsion.
@bryanthuber: independent clause/ semi-colon goes right here/ independent clause
@judyhoracek: Oh grammar, grammar/ grammar day – you give us all/ a great game to play
@p0sterchild65: Large words can be fun/But Proper context is key/When writing essays
@RMTranslations: Stretched out on the bed / She told a whopping falsehood / The lying liar
@johnemcintyre: Treat your editor / like an old friend you count on / to tell you the truth.
@shugus: Poems can break rules/But grammar is best when true/Use spell-check, at least.
@K_to_the_ukla: Haiku contest tweet/ for National Grammar Day/ punctuation? Yes.
@danielgerling: “We do grammar–Go!”// All its sides reversed is still// “O grammar god; ew!”
@RMTranslations: The students wondered / Should they have used past perfect? / Stupid verb tenses
@shugus: Do you speak English/or something disguised as it?/Grammar matters, kids.
@mikeatonjr: In posterity / All will split infinitives / It will still be wrong
@PurplePenning: Ideas carved in words / pine for full understanding, / ache for form — grammar.
@PurplePenning: Haiku need not toss / grammar’s sense-making beauty. / Neither must text-speak.
@CCCopyEditor: Conjunction junction / What’s your function? TV shorts / Taught me my grammar.
@CCCopyEditor: I must surrender / To the High Gods of Grammar / Even when online.
@CCCopyEditor: An editor’s angst: / Change the author’s words, or not? / Only if broken.
@gerrrib: Monkeys, HULK and Girl / give usage commentary / by tweeting grammar
@CCCopyEditor: Awesome adjectives / The perfect preposition / Loving the language.
@WilliamReagan: Possessive ends “S”\ apostrophe looks nervous \ unsure where to stand
@christinatsuei: i.e. or e.g.?/”that is” or “for example”!/some latin debunked
@ReadingLisa: You think that you snuck//But I can see that you sneaked//And that is a bust
@larry_kunz: No further ado: / Knowing when to use “farther” / takes talent and skill.
@word_czar: Apostrophe? No. // Possessive, not contraction. // Its ain’t it’s, is it?
@johnemcintyre: A world disordered / needs a means to set things right: / the Oxford comma.
@arikaokrent: Each writer who writes/ he/she should stand up and fight/ for singular “they.”
@word_czar: False series vex me; // dangling modifiers, too. // Where is my red pen?
@StanCarey: My word, your syntax / stirs my imperative mood: / Let’s coordinate.
@DailyEngHelp: Their, There, They’re, Your You’re / It’s good grammar at its best / Use them correctly.
@word_czar: I, he, they, and who // lack an “m”; one letter ties // me, him, them, and whom.
@4ndyman: If you’ve much to say, / A well-placed semicolon / Can save your big but.
@gerrrib: Grammarian split / descriptive or prescriptive / can’t we get along
@CCCopyEditor: Is grammar static? / Verily I say to thee: Nay! / Language is living.
@CCCopyEditor: multifarious / grammar forms proliferate / on teh interwebz
@arikaokrent: What fun would it be?/The irregardlesslessness/of a perfect world?
@CCCopyEditor: language is useful / for much much more than talking / about tiger blood
@arikaokrent: Serial commas/tiny poison-tipped curved darts/in the style-guide wars
@FroshEngpd2: It affected me, In such an effective way, I was infected
@FroshEngpd2: FANBOYS are useful, For And Nor But Or Yet So, They can join subjects
@FroshEngpd2: It’s not every day/that I wear everyday clothes/ There are some exceptions.
@FroshEngpd2: Haiku’s are the best/Simple yet so meaningful/Only if they were longer
@FroshEngpd2: I enjoy CD’s/I adore apostrophes/I hate acronyms
@FroshEngpd2: O my apostrophe/Stop being used so wrong/For this angers me
@FroshEngpd2: I assume you know/ presuming is based on fact/not the other way
@FroshEngpd2: Grammar is quite plain/Disinterested party /Uninteresting
@NathalieJCaron: Split infinitive / to never such a thing do / Disruptive of flow
@Orbspiders: Clear thought, unclear words / A wonderful idea / Hidden by errors
@madbeyond: for grammarians / clarity’s a just desert / and no calories!
@word_czar: Noun-verb agreement / seems such a simple concept, / but I guess it aren’t.
@lieslw: Serial comma, / how I do love thee: so clear, / distinct, and precise. /
@GordinaryWords: While linguists describe, / Grammarians prescribe. Truce! / Let’s all hug this out.
@a_cloud_of_doom: The slow fall of seasons/ As winter springs toward summer/ is times ellipsis…
@sandrajapandra: In general or / something specific? Can’t tell; / the article’s wrong.
@GordinaryWords: Language must evolve, / But words coined in ignorance / I refudiate.
@maltessagomez: Semicolon is the most seductive; it is always blinking and I can’t help it
@lavagal: Were we to write words/ With Strunk and White, Little Brown/ We would write well, right.
@diedofennui: Copy editor / peevologist, spell-checker / let’s work together.
@johnemcintyre: We grammarians / polish pebbles on the shore / of language’s sea.
@scottdhoople: the apostrophe / looks like a comma up high / and both are misused
@GinaBainesH: Serial comma/To be clear and consistent/Read lists easily
@WilliamReagan: “your so dumb,” he wrote \ replied, “Do you mean ‘you’re dumb’?” \ “No, I mean YOU are.”
@johnemcintyre: Damnable peeving — / let the prepositions stand / at sentences’ end
@CCCopyEditor: Kids don’t know grammar/ And yet children can still speak / And write correctly.
@LiteralMinded: Abominations / Of yesterday turn into / Today’s grammar rules.
@MichelleMeunier: Grammar is so cool. It doesn’t take much to learn. Learning it is cake.
@tac11tac: My High School Days were / Grammatically incorrect / Now I see the light.
@DavidWarr: If you use colour/ wonderful patterns emerge/ visual grammar
@gerrrib: A wise ruler knows / dangling modifiers can / confuse the subjects
@Frackalack: upon reflection / starting with prepositions / is no more taboo
@johnemcintyre: Any fool can make / a rule and every fool / will mind it. Thoreau
@kerjsmit: Poor apostrophe— / its wings pinioned with each sign / composed by a dunce.
@Wordlily: Clarity, Claire, is / good grammar’s good goal. To wit: / Communication.
@Wordlily: Grammar Day’s my fave, / but vitriolic rep can / overstrike the aims.
@trevorgourley: Your doing it wrong. You’re grammar needs improvement, Witch is plane to see.
@GordinaryWords: Your “words,” when “ensnared” / By “random” “quotation marks,” / Don’t “mean” what you “think.”
@MacDictionary: Blink blinked sink sank think / thought drink drank shrink shrunk link linked. / Irregular. / Most.
@MacDictionary: No progressive form / for stative verbs? MacDonald’s / disbelievin’ it!
@ESLgurus: Don’t be tense today/Today is past, now, future/What did/will you do?
@jmjdelaney: I is before E/ Forfeit their weird feisty feigns/ Seize neither leisure
@GordinaryWords: Resourceful f-word / Creeps in through most parts of speech / ‘Cept at the Oscars.
@gerrrib: Must be parallel / wording, writing, editing / symmetry at work
@madbeyond: Words are discrete waves / And language is a vast sea / Grammar is a ship
@Fritinancy: Now I lay me down / To contemplate the horror / Of “lay” used for “lie.”
@johnemcintyre: If you verb some nouns / and also noun a few verbs, / English will survive.
@scottdhoople: attain clarity / use this time-honored technique / sentence diagram
@scottdhoople: the chalkboard recalled / teaching technique now unused / sentence diagram
@WilliamReagan: “Call Jill or myself” \ so if Jill is out today \ I just call myself?
@tbschlaf: “Bold” indeed to go / where no infinitive should / thanks a lot, Star Trek.
@zongrik: the declination ~ of adjectives makes language ~ kaleidoscopic
@InVinceWil: Running gerunds, verbs / turn stone-cold nouns, periods / spill into commas
@GordinaryWords: Spell-checkers won’t catch / You’re mistaken homophones / Scattered hear and their.
@janflora: Ellipses leave space/ Connecting words together/ Not just dot, dot, dot…
@huler: i don’t mind it much/ that you keep correcting me/ but you’re always wrong.
@KatieCoops: Prepositions in/ middle school classrooms often/ go out the window.
@Jenro93: Sometimes wrongs DO make/ a right–just ask “snuck,” who sneaked/ into acceptance.
@jyuter: Due to budget cuts / statements will now be split by / A semi colon
@GordinaryWords: Can Canucks take part / In National Grammar Day? / Grant us this favo(u)r!
@GordinaryWords: Adverbs, when misused, / Wander in search of meaning. / Hopefully, yours don’t.
@shireeheath: … unbound exposed free -/ imagine no word order/ a Yoda-esque dream
@BugsDodger: everyday I / sees you every damn day / let me be special
@Jenro93: Preposition placed/ at sentence end–a faux-pas/ I won’t put up with.
@Jenro93: Finished reading three/ informative articles./My favorite–“THE.”
@Jenro93: Alliteration/ a lyrical lullaby/ in lovely language
@Jenro93: “Seems I have misplaced/ my modifiers,” thought Word/ dangling elsewehere, lost,
@awakebutasleep: Rules are to be broken/in grammar, in life/exceptions are the rule
@scottdhoople: choosing who or whom / subjective or objective / makes the decision
@opheliacat: If subject and verb/don’t agree in a sentence/the universe weeps
@GordinaryWords: Why we need hyphens: / Good-grammar haiku aren’t all / Good grammar haiku
@madbeyond: dangling from the ledge / the city looked beautiful / if ever misplaced
@pfoinkle: participles dangle / adverbs split infinitives / blue pencils break
@_andrewjones_: Why do we allow / The grammatically wrong / with “Who To Follow”?
@underoak: My participle/Your pluperfect subjunctive/Perfect together.
@Jenro93: indiscriminate/ shifts in tense befuddle and/distracted readers
@Jenro93: the irony of/ poor grammar in a grammar/haiku delights i
@shireeheath: … every glossy page/ heavy with structure defiled -/ subscription wasted
@KathyPea: Apostrophe s / maybe s apostrophe? / stick to singular
@KathyPea: Ending a sentence/With a preposition is/So not where it’s at
@NoelProbert: don’t be bound by rules, always strive for clarity, omit needless words
@merchantkrystle: The best agreement / is one that occurs between / a subject and verb
@PamelaBwell: To make adjectives: hypenate a string of words, place before the noun
@duvallspx: Split infinitives / participles dangling / who cares on twitter?
@Eatbiztutor: : Interrupting clause / needs a set of commas / makes reading easy.
@abitofmybrain: Awards in grammar / Hemingway not invited / step outside the box
@Eatbiztutor: Comma Splices can / Interrupt otherwise good/ sentences. Use dots.
@AdirondackMetal: Forms of verb “to be”/ am is are was were been be/ I am what I am
@NoelProbert: poor semicolon, so often used in error, Vonnegut hates you
@cvasilevski: Commas, oh commas! / They have so many uses. / Be careful with them!
@NoelProbert: The Oxford comma, useful for making a list, it’s got its own song.
@woletrap: how do i spell it? // how do i say it? oh no! // floating like a rock. –
@sanderling12: Conversation–word/ Conversate (fuss-trated sigh)/ Supposebly not
@abitofmybrain: Nation of grammar? / Would you like fries with that sir? / Set higher standards.
@johnemcintyre: Tired grammarian / longs for the lagniappe of toil: / bourbon on the rocks.
@johnemcintyre: Editor finds this: / “survivors of fatal crash” / zombies, we presume.
@johnemcintyre: Erasmus said God / can tolerate bad grammar / but does not love it.
@sanderson: Indifferent clods — / all their misused theirs, theres, whoms…. / And linguists? We’re “prudes.”
@johnemcintyre: They have wisdom who / understand, respect, and use / the semicolon.
@AllenStairs: He eats, shoots and leaves / that vicious panda bear with / his wrongful commas
@AllenStairs: Split infinitives / to boldly go where pedants / fear to send their pens
@JonMwords: #GrammarDay has come. / Put down your phones, everyone. / Time to learn to spell.
What fun! Shoutouts to @PurplePenning, @LindaDawnStone, @4ndyman, @arikaokrent, @FroshEngpd2, @WilliamReagan, @tbschlaf, @GordinaryWords and @scottdhoople, @aubergineword and @db_stewart.
Thanks for the shoutouts, and sorry it took so long for your comment to appear. It was caught by my spam filter, probably for all the @ symbols.
My entry does not appear in this list? :(. It was about exclamation points, and was a traditional Japanese haiku that speaks of the natural world and a season. Was it omitted for it’s subject or form, which was again closer to Japanese than American form? It would have come from “michellecorbin” as that is my twitter ID?
Here was my haiku:
thunderstorms
mark the spring night-
multiple exclamation points!!!
Not all that interesting from a grammar point of view, I understand, but there you go.
I love the haiku. I used the advanced search in Twitter to look back through the #grammarday haiku, but that might have missed yours and some others. But I’m glad to give it some light now.
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