He was a tall, thin man.
Prescriptive English grammar is by all accounts a unique little something that either impassions you or inspires some level of fear. Admirers of English grammar and utilization are stimulated by mastering the rules of a muddled and complicated language. For whatever remains of us, our feelings run the range from indifference to loathing as we wade through a seemingly subjective hierarchical framework and apply it to something as individual as language. There's pride. There's hatred. There's a ton in between.
The majority of us live in the "in between." We comprehend that following customary grammar and use rules encourages us to prevail at work and in our groups. It improves us, communicators. We do our best to compose and talk well and to enable our companions and friends and family to do likewise. Hopefully, we will abandon it like that—only a pack of good-natured individuals trying their best. Lamentably, there is an appalling side to this quest for grammatical correctness.