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grammar

[ gram-er ]

/ ˈgræm ər /

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See synonyms for grammar on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

these features or constructions themselves: English grammar.

an account of these features; a set of rules accounting for these constructions: a grammar of English.

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.

prescriptive grammar.

knowledge or usage of the preferred or prescribed forms in speaking or writing: She said his grammar was terrible.

the elements of any science, art, or subject.

a book treating such elements.

VIDEO FOR GRAMMAR

WATCH NOW: Can You Correct These Grammatically Incorrect Song Lyrics?

These lyrics may be catchy, but there’s one, big grammatical error within them. Can you spot it?

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QUIZZES

THINK YOU’VE GOT A HANDLE ON THIS US STATE NICKNAME QUIZ?

Did you ever collect all those state quarters? Put them to good use on this quiz about curious state monikers and the facts around them.

Question 1 of 8

Mississippi’s nickname comes from the magnificent trees that grow there. What is it?

The Sunflower State

The Evergreen State

The Magnolia State

The Mockingbird State

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of grammar

1325–75; Middle English gramery<Old French gramaire<Latin gramatica<Greek grammatikḕ (téchnē) grammatical (art); see -ar²

OTHER WORDS FROM grammar

gram·mar·less, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH grammar

grammar , grandma, grandmother

Words nearby grammar

graminivorous, graminology, gram-ion, grammage, grammalogue, grammar, grammarian, grammar school, grammar-translation method, grammatical, grammatical gender

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for grammar

They had enough predictive power to be useful for applications like autocomplete, but not enough to generate a long sentence that followed grammar rules and common sense.
These weird, unsettling photos show that AI is getting smarter|Karen Hao|September 25, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Platform limitations, certainly, and an inherent understanding that it’s part of the internet’s cinematic grammar.
One Good Thing: The trick uniting the internet’s funniest videos|Emily VanDerWerff|September 25, 2020|Vox
I wanted to take people’s minds away from this notion of grammar as something dry and boring, and something that people get told at school, and convey this fact that combining words into sentences is a wonder.
Talking Is Throwing Fictional Worlds at One Another - Issue 89: The Dark Side|Kevin Berger|September 9, 2020|Nautilus
Your ideas evoke probably the only controversy in the linguistics world that has spilled over to popular culture—the debate over “universal grammar.”
Talking Is Throwing Fictional Worlds at One Another - Issue 89: The Dark Side|Kevin Berger|September 9, 2020|Nautilus

If universal grammar is a capacity of the human species alone, then of course the Pirahã have universal grammar.
Talking Is Throwing Fictional Worlds at One Another - Issue 89: The Dark Side|Kevin Berger|September 9, 2020|Nautilus
At his best, he was an inventor of part of the modern cinema's grammar.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Fear of offending the grammar police can even produce a novel type of error called a hypercorrection.
Go Ahead, End With a Preposition: Grammar Rules We All Can Live With|Nick Romeo|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The outraged grammar stickler mistakes a convention for an immutable and fundamental law of the universe.
Go Ahead, End With a Preposition: Grammar Rules We All Can Live With|Nick Romeo|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When you approached T.I., London Grammar, and Fall Out Boy to do this, what was their initial response to it?
How Questlove Is Bringing Music Back to Television|Kevin Fallon|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At one point did you think, “T.I., London Grammar, and Fall Out Boy together”?
How Questlove Is Bringing Music Back to Television|Kevin Fallon|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The second grammar class had been relieved from a recitation by this confab, and somehow Perry had a subduing influence.
The Soldier of the Valley|Nelson Lloyd
A barber having a dispute with a parish clerk on a point of grammar, the latter said it was a downright barbarism, indeed.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun;|Various
French, the English Grammar, and the rudiments of Latin comprised the only systematic training which she received.
The Childhood of Distinguished Women|Selina A. Bower
There was Cliff Manning, you turned the cold shoulder to him because he couldnt talk grammar.
Tessa Wadsworth's Discipline|Jennie M. Drinkwater
He wouldnt talk grammar, or he couldnt spell or read Greek, and she will turn away, laughed Mrs. Wadsworth.
Tessa Wadsworth's Discipline|Jennie M. Drinkwater

British Dictionary definitions for grammar

grammar

/ (ˈɡræmə) /

noun

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

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

a systematic description of the grammatical facts of a language

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

the use of language with regard to its correctness or social propriety, esp in syntaxthe teacher told him to watch his grammar
(as modifier)a grammar book

the elementary principles of a science or artthe grammar of drawing

Derived forms of grammar

grammarless, adjective

Word Origin for grammar

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for grammar

grammar

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

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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