努沙杜瓦海岸与防波堤，印度尼西亚巴厘岛 Nusa Dua coast with breakwater, Bali, Indonesia (© Dkart/Getty Images)

努沙杜瓦海岸与防波堤，印度尼西亚巴厘岛 Nusa Dua coast with breakwater, Bali, Indonesia (© Dkart/Getty Images)

The most wonderful day of the year. Period.

Er, comma—at least it seems like that's what we're seeing. And just like a comma breaks up a sentence, this structure called a breakwater interrupts the Pacific Ocean, punctuating waves with a crash before they can disturb this Bali beach. Whether its resemblance to a comma (or is that an apostrophe?) was intentional or not, it's a fine visual for today's syntactical celebration. That's correct: It's Grammar Day! (Note to hardline grammarians: We know punctuation—like a comma—isn't exactly grammar, but we're loosening the linguistical reins a bit in the generous spirit of Grammar Day. So put that red pen down, smartypants.)

If you're not inclined to decline verbs or dying to diagram a sentence, don't quit reading just yet. You might just think of grammar as the dos and don'ts taught in English textbooks—but a mere stuffy set of rules it ain't. Grammar is the ingredients of a language. Whenever we speak or even think, whether with prim-and-proper diction or in the most teacher-defying slang, our brains are using grammatical rules to translate firing neurons into words and phrases. Just how this happens is still a hot debate for linguists: Are these rules based on hardwired neural pathways or are they learned from a young age?

Well, however the brain works, we hope you brought yours today. Our quiz covers those wonderful, nitpicky grammar rules from school you doubtless remember so well. Sharpen your pencils!

一年中最美好的一天。句号。

呃，至少我们看到的是逗号。就像一个逗号打断了一个句子，这个被称为防波堤的结构打断了太平洋，在海浪冲击巴厘岛海滩之前，它以撞击声打断了海浪。它是否像逗号（或是撇号？）不管是有意还是无意，这都是今天句法庆祝的一个很好的视觉效果。没错，今天是语法日！（强硬派语法学家注意：我们知道像逗号这样的标点符号并不完全是语法，但我们在语法日的慷慨精神下稍微放松了对语言的控制。所以把那支红笔放下，聪明人。）

如果你不想拒绝动词，也不想画一个句子，那就暂时不要放弃阅读。你可能只是认为语法是英语课本上教的应该做的事和不应该做的事，但它不是一套乏味的规则。语法是语言的组成部分。每当我们说话或思考的时候，无论是用朴素得体的措辞，还是用最蔑视老师的俚语，我们的大脑都在利用语法规则将兴奋的神经元翻译成单词和短语。这究竟是如何发生的，对语言学家来说仍然是一个热门的争论：这些规则是基于硬连线的神经通路，还是从小就学会的？

好吧，不管大脑是怎么工作的，我们希望你今天能带上你的。我们的测验涵盖了学校里那些美妙的、挑剔的语法规则，你肯定记得很清楚。把你的铅笔削尖！