It was my third year in college, and we were assigned the task of translating an original, ancient Chinese text. No big deal, except for the fact that the block of characters in front of me did not have a single mark of punctuation on it.

No punctuation, you say?

Well, before paper was invented in China, history was recorded on other mediums – bamboo, wood, stone, and even bones or shells. Now, you can probably imagine how time consuming it would have been to have to carve out every single character on these less-than-ideal surfaces. And so what did they do? They had to save time and energy, so the meaning of each character was maximized, and the idea of punctuation was too luxurious to even contemplate.

So what happened to the assignment? Well, it was quite the mess. First there are the pitiful attempts to delineate separate thoughts. Then, there is the futile toil of trying to distinguish whether a word is being used as a noun, a preposition, a possessive, or whatever other part of speech exists in the world.

The assignment was tough to say the least. I would even venture to say it was impossible, because even renowned scholars to this day debate about the intended meaning of these essentially enigmatic masses of text.

So why am I telling you this?

In the current times, we have lost sight of the purpose of grammar and punctuation. We take them for granted because they are so easily accessible. We grumble our way through grammar lessons and learn them sloppily. Or even worse, we study them religiously and then force them down our victims’ throats as legalistic imperatives, created to be followed just so they are followed.

Grammar and punctuation were created to bring clarity to thoughts. To prevent misunderstandings and connect the people who use them.

So yes, there are ways to use these tools correctly. Uniformity is a crucial aspect to clear communication. And yet, at the same time, I hope that you will sometimes add a comma, in an unconventional place, if indeed that is what you need. Sometimes, i  hope you don’t capitalize your i’s, if a lowercase one better conveys how you feel. Sometimes, I hope you end your sentences before they’re completely formed. Just sometimes.

May we be people who use grammar as a resource to help us say what we want to say, rather than people who view it as an obstacle to expressing our thoughts.

-G