Through language, we make edifying texts that describe our universe, from the smallest cell to the largest star system. We also use languages to create new universes, like Neverland, Westeros, Oz, and Tatooine. And every literary universe works like our universe: it has its own physics and rules that govern it--gravity, thermodynamics, the conservation of energy, etc. Without such rules, the universe would make no sense and fall apart. Similarly, language is governed by a set of universal rules that allow it to make sense. These rules are called grammar.
Grammar is the set of rules of writing that allow it to make sense.
The rules of the universe affect everything, both large and small. What's the smallest unit of matter? The tiniest piece? Most people say "an atom." We usually start at the atom, but that's incorrect. We need to think smaller: atoms are made of protons, electrons, and neutrons, which in turn are made of subatomic particles (which may or may no be made of tiny strings or even smaller particles or magic dust. I'm not a scientist.) Atoms are then put together to form element and molecules, which in turn can be combined to created proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and acids; these then form cells, which then form organs, which then form organisms. It's a chain of development, but we must acknowledge that it all starts smaller than the atom.
Language can be thought of in a similar fashion. We usually think the smallest unit of language is the sentences, but to get the full picture, we need to start smaller. The most basic unit of language is the letter. Letters combine to form words. Words combine into related groups called phrases. Some phrases are subjects, some are verb-oriented, and some are modifiers. When a subject phrase meets a verb phrase, a clause is formed. Clauses combine to form sentences, and sentences combine into paragraphs. From there, all writing is formed.
This mindset is key for thinking about grammar. Analysis of the parts of speech happens at the level of the individual word. Analysis at the level of groups of works (phrases, clauses, and sentences is called mechanics. Analysis at the level of paragraphs where sentences work together to create meaning is called usage.
Language can be thought of in a similar fashion. We usually think the smallest unit of language is the sentences, but to get the full picture, we need to start smaller. The most basic unit of language is the letter. Letters combine to form words. Words combine into related groups called phrases. Some phrases are subjects, some are verb-oriented, and some are modifiers. When a subject phrase meets a verb phrase, a clause is formed. Clauses combine to form sentences, and sentences combine into paragraphs. From there, all writing is formed.
This mindset is key for thinking about grammar. Analysis of the parts of speech happens at the level of the individual word. Analysis at the level of groups of works (phrases, clauses, and sentences is called mechanics. Analysis at the level of paragraphs where sentences work together to create meaning is called usage.
While punctuation is thousands of years old, it's a relatively new concept. The first languages were pictographs where every symbol represented a different word, so no punctuation was needed (languages like Chinese and Japanese are still like this). However, languages soon developed letters to represent sounds instead of full words. One of these languages was ancient Greek, where everything was initially written in verse; no punctuation was needed here either, as lines would always end at a certain syllable or rhyme. It was when the Greeks started writing transcripts, speeches, and other prose works that they need some sort of indication of breaks between sentences. For this, they put a point (punctus) every time a string of words should be separated.
This early symbol worked well initially, but soon grammarians like Aristophanes of Byzantium wanted to specify the type of break, so they diversified how the punctus was placed: a point at the top of a word indicated the end of a sentence (periodos), a point at the midpoint of a word indicated the end of a clause (kolon), and a point at the bottom of a word indicated the end of a phrase (komma). These marks continued into Latin script and early European languages, yet even with the different heights, the different points started getting confused. Thus, writers in the Early Middle Ages started giving the colon two dots and put a tail on the comma. These writers also started to distinguish between sentences that were somber statements (.), statements of wonder (?), and statements of joy (!). Additionally, if writers accidentally duplicated a word, they added an asterisk to show it was a mistake; if writers put an accidental space in the middle of a word, they added a horizontal line to rejoin the word--this was the birth of the hyphen.
After the widespread use of the Gutenberg printing press, English readers found comma to be confusing, as they could indicate any number of separations. So like the early punctus, Anglo grammarians developed new symbols like the modern colon, semicolon, dash, ellipsis, and slash. Meanwhile, the French developed the idea of emphasizing phrases through guillemets (<< >>). Guillemets (called chevrons in English) were soon were diversified the same way commas were, leading to quotation marks, apostrophes, brackets, and parentheses. As England conquered France and France conquered England, the two languages adopted each other's punctuation marks.
Punctuation is the connective tissue of modern language, indicating which thoughts connect and which separate. Below is a quick primer on punctuation symbols in English. Note that it does not include accent marks or typographic symbols. Accent marks are symbols that go over letters to indicate a different sound than usual, such as tildas and umlats; accent marks are not only absent in true English words, but are considered letters, not punctuation. Typographic symbols like @, #, $, %, and & take the place of full words, and thus aren't considered punctuation either.
This early symbol worked well initially, but soon grammarians like Aristophanes of Byzantium wanted to specify the type of break, so they diversified how the punctus was placed: a point at the top of a word indicated the end of a sentence (periodos), a point at the midpoint of a word indicated the end of a clause (kolon), and a point at the bottom of a word indicated the end of a phrase (komma). These marks continued into Latin script and early European languages, yet even with the different heights, the different points started getting confused. Thus, writers in the Early Middle Ages started giving the colon two dots and put a tail on the comma. These writers also started to distinguish between sentences that were somber statements (.), statements of wonder (?), and statements of joy (!). Additionally, if writers accidentally duplicated a word, they added an asterisk to show it was a mistake; if writers put an accidental space in the middle of a word, they added a horizontal line to rejoin the word--this was the birth of the hyphen.
After the widespread use of the Gutenberg printing press, English readers found comma to be confusing, as they could indicate any number of separations. So like the early punctus, Anglo grammarians developed new symbols like the modern colon, semicolon, dash, ellipsis, and slash. Meanwhile, the French developed the idea of emphasizing phrases through guillemets (<< >>). Guillemets (called chevrons in English) were soon were diversified the same way commas were, leading to quotation marks, apostrophes, brackets, and parentheses. As England conquered France and France conquered England, the two languages adopted each other's punctuation marks.
Punctuation is the connective tissue of modern language, indicating which thoughts connect and which separate. Below is a quick primer on punctuation symbols in English. Note that it does not include accent marks or typographic symbols. Accent marks are symbols that go over letters to indicate a different sound than usual, such as tildas and umlats; accent marks are not only absent in true English words, but are considered letters, not punctuation. Typographic symbols like @, #, $, %, and & take the place of full words, and thus aren't considered punctuation either.
The word level: speech |
The sentence level: mechanics |