Importantly, these "graces," or levels, build on each other - correctness is necessary for clarity, clarity for ornament, and ornament for decorum. In other words, your tone may be superb, but if your sentences are grammatically incoherent, the communication still fails.

Consider the following sentences:

1) Pursuant to the directive received by this employee, the following represents a carefully considered response to the most recently implemented initiatives enacted by the departmental management, which are herewith considered to be less than optimally effective in achieving the desired ends within the scope of the mission defined for the current project.

Grammatically correct, yes, but completely unclear.

2) You wanted feedback; here it is. Your new policy stinks.

Grammatically correct, and quite clear, but likely to get you fired.

By the time you finish this module, you should be able to find a middle ground!

 

Correctness-->