The grammar police are a law unto themselves and others; but not always the same law, and not always at the same time.

Watch the grammar police with trepidation, for you may not know which law you’ve broken. There are those who loathe neologisms, and there are those who embrace linguistic evolution. There are those who eschew ethnic variation, and there are those who refuse to profile, if only because that’s a noun and not a verb. There are those who keep an eye out for clichés, and then there are the hardcore cases who just look very carefully for them.

The grammar police patrol Dictionary Lane, walk the beat down Punctuation Boulevard, and are often to be found on Thesaurus Way, Street, Road, Avenue, and/or Drive.

Be warned: the grammar police are looking over your shoulder right now (except for the ones who stamp out clichés; they’re staring very hard at you). Study your every word carefully. Polish your punctuation.

The grammar police are watching, always watching, ready to pass sentence.

Or fail it.