[Erasmus]

Reading unfamiliar foreign languages quickly exposes deficiencies in understanding, as does reading poetry.

Hear, hear. I did not overly trouble myself with English grammar until I began the study of German. It was the contrasts and similarities between the two languages that finally engaged my interest in the subject.

Of course, the downside is that it made me an insufferable Grammar Pecksniff.

< }B^)

[RightWhale]

I mentioned poetry also because I found some prose articles by Coleridge and Wordsworth that were every bit as elegant as their poetry, and perfectly clear. If we could write prose as clearly as Milton, Coleridge and Wordsworth, and they make it look easy, we could ask no more.

[thesharkboy]

Of course, the downside is that it made me an insufferable Grammar Pecksniff.

"Grammar Pecksniff" should not be capitalized.