grammar

[gram-er]

noun

1. the study of the way the sentences of a language are constructed; morphology and syntax.

2. these features or constructions themselves.

   English grammar.

3. an account of these features; a set of rules accounting for these constructions.

   a grammar of English.

4. Generative Grammar.,  a device, as a body of rules, whose output is all of the sentences that are permissible in a given language, while excluding all those that are not permissible.

5. prescriptive grammar.

6. knowledge or usage of the preferred or prescribed forms in speaking or writing.

   She said his grammar was terrible.

7. the elements of any science, art, or subject.

8. a book treating such elements.

grammar

/ ˈɡræmə /

noun

1. the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology, sometimes also phonology and semantics

2. the abstract system of rules in terms of which a person's mastery of his native language can be explained

3. a systematic description of the grammatical facts of a language

4. a book containing an account of the grammatical facts of a language or recommendations as to rules for the proper use of a language

5. 1. the use of language with regard to its correctness or social propriety, esp in syntax

      the teacher told him to watch his grammar

   2. ( as modifier )

      a grammar book

6. the elementary principles of a science or art

   the grammar of drawing

grammar

1. The rules for standard use of words. A grammar is also a system for classifying and analyzing the elements of language.

Other Word Forms

• grammarless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of grammar¹

1325–75; Middle English gramery < Old French gramaire < Latin gramatica < Greek grammatikḕ ( téchnē ) grammatical (art); -ar ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of grammar¹

C14: from Old French gramaire, from Latin grammatica, from Greek grammatikē ( tekhnē ) the grammatical (art), from grammatikos concerning letters, from gramma letter

Example Sentences

Foodstock said private tuition doubled the likelihood of attending a grammar school, but disadvantaged children were less able to finance it.

Read more on BBC

Bulgarian, like Russian, uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and a complex grammar structure.

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The film revolutionized the structure and grammar of modern cinema as surely as Orson Welles’s “Citizen Kane” had a decade earlier, and as Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” would a decade later.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

There are no real “tunes” here: It commits to no steady musical grammar.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“There were books when my daughters were in grammar school and high school that stated we were extinct,” said Art Morales, an elder and historian in the tribe.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• alphabet 
• syntax 

When To Use

What is grammar?

Grammar is the study of how sentences in a specific language are constructed.Grammar also refers to the features and rules of the language that guide users to creating properly constructed sentences. When we follow grammar rules it helps our listeners and readers understand what we’re trying to communicate.For example, one feature of English grammar is that the order of the words in a sentence helps tell us what job each word is doing. If we put all the nouns at the front of the sentence, as in I dogs own three, you’d wonder what we meant. When we put the subject of the sentence before the verb and the object after it, as in I own three dogs, you can understand what we mean.As with most languages, English has many different aspects of grammar that we follow in order to make understandable sentences. Most people learn and improve their grammar throughout their lives, starting when they first learn the language.