Writing to James Madison for editorial comments on his Annual Message to Congress, Thomas Jefferson offered an insightful rule of thumb that guided his own magnificent pen:
Will you give this enclosed a revisal, not only as to matter, but diction. Where strictness of grammar does not weaken expression, it should be attended to in complaisance to the purists of New England. But where by small grammatical negligences the energy of an idea is condensed, or a word stands for a sentence, I hold grammatical rigor in contempt.
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