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What can one do to avoid entering a grappling situation?

Why don't we take a minute and list out everything that's wrong with this question? A lot of answers and comments are picking it apart, and there's too much for me to figure out on my own.

How could this question be phrased to not be picked apart and be valuable?

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Your question can be summed up with the metaphor: how long is a piece of string? Even with the parameters you specified within the question, there are still a gazillion answers.

More specifically, there is no one answer, there are many that are equally correct, and unfortunately the SE way of asking/answering is diametrically opposed to that.

Personally, rather than a bunch of parameters I would have preferred to see a bunch of reasons why you want to avoid the grapple. Is it a weak area? Do you have a bit of fear of it? Your art doesn't do grappling at all? You are sparring people who favour grappling and you're sick of it? If any of those reasons apply then it is easier to give you strategies to avoid grappling. As it stands though, a lot of techniques within the various arts can be applied in grappling situations, so much so that the answer I was going to give to your question was:

Don't avoid the grapple, learn how your techniques apply to the grapple.

To outright avoid grappling you might as well just concentrate on a sport oriented martial art that specifically precludes it.

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This is true, but I think it is somewhat short-sighted. Certainly, there is no one technique - but I believe there are principles that can be used to answer this question, upon which one can rely. "Grappling" is a very wide umbrella term for fighting styles, but I believe it also refers to a set of principles. As such, I'm not saying not to use techniques, but to rely on another set of principles. – Trevoke Jul 20 '12 at 14:50
Also, if I'd asked a question relating to why I wanted to avoid grappling, I knew I was going to get answers related to those - instead of what I really cared about (at least one answer told me to worry about the knives, thereby completely bypassing the question itself). – Trevoke Jul 20 '12 at 14:51
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Great answer. The original question isn't bad; however, we run into the problem that everyone has here: they want the answer they think they know in their head. When a question is asked, the question ceases to be the OPs question, and becomes property of the community. The answers as well. There are ways to prepare for what's being asked: what you do in that situation requires preparation beforehand, and there are countless things you should be aware of to prepare. Soke was once asked "What do you do when someone comes from behind and holds a knife to your throat?" His answer: "You die." – stslavik Jul 20 '12 at 15:51
@stslavik The question becomes property of the community, but the words are still there. If the community wants to mangle the question and change its meaning, I may as well be talking to Humpty-Dumpty. – Trevoke Jul 20 '12 at 22:05
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All we have are words; ambiguous as they are. Reading your question, I saw it as "I'm not a grappler. What if.." and then a list of conditions. My answer to you is this: in that situation, you die. It would be a disservice to you to say, "I would do X" because the moment I make the first move, I'm assuming all subsequent reactions. Further, history has taught me that what ifs always end up with the asker pushing the conditions to absurdity to make the situation the same: you die. Therefore, your question has little merit, and any merit it does have come from answers that make something of it. – stslavik Jul 23 '12 at 15:47

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