grammar
Grammar refers to the way words are used, classified, and structured together to form coherent written or spoken communication.
gram·mar
(grăm′ər)n.
1.
a. The study of how words and their component parts combine to form sentences.
b. The study of structural relationships in language or in a language, sometimes including pronunciation, meaning, and linguistic history.
2.
a. The system of inflections, syntax, and word formation of a language.
b. The system of rules implicit in a language, viewed as a mechanism for generating all sentences possible in that language.
3.
a. A normative or prescriptive set of rules setting forth the current standard of usage for pedagogical or reference purposes.
b. Writing or speech judged with regard to such a set of rules.
4. A book containing the morphologic, syntactic, and semantic rules for a specific language.
5.
a. The basic principles of an area of knowledge: the grammar of music.
b. A book dealing with such principles.
[Middle English gramere, from Old French gramaire, alteration of Latin grammatica, from Greek grammatikē, from feminine of grammatikos, of letters, from gramma, grammat-, letter; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
grammar
(ˈɡræmə)n
1. (Grammar) the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology, sometimes also phonology and semantics
2. (Grammar) the abstract system of rules in terms of which a person's mastery of his native language can be explained
3. (Grammar) a systematic description of the grammatical facts of a language
4. (Grammar) 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. (Grammar)
a. the use of language with regard to its correctness or social propriety, esp in syntax: the teacher told him to watch his grammar.
b. (as modifier): a grammar book.
6. the elementary principles of a science or art: the grammar of drawing.
[C14: from Old French gramaire, from Latin grammatica, from Greek grammatikē (tekhnē) the grammatical (art), from grammatikos concerning letters, from gramma letter]
ˈgrammarless adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
gram•mar
(ˈgræm ər)n.
1. the study of the way the sentences of a language are constructed, esp. the study of 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. (in generative grammar) a device, as a set of rules, whose output is all the sentences that are permissible in a given language, while excluding those that are not permissible.
5. the exposition or establishment of rules based on norms of correct and incorrect language usage; prescriptive grammar.
6. knowledge or usage of the preferred or prescribed forms in speaking or writing: His grammar was terrible.
7. the elements of any science, art, or subject.
8. a book treating such elements.
[1325–75; < Old French gramaire < Latin grammatica < Greek grammatikḕ (téchnē) grammatical (art)]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Grammar
See also language; linguistics
the aspect of grammar that deals with inflections and word order.
1. an ambiguity of language.
2. a word, phrase, or sentence that can be interpreted variously because of uncertainty of grammatical construction rather than ambiguity of the words used, as “John met his father when he was sick.” Also amphibologism, amphiboly. — amphibological, amphibolous, adj.
2. a word, phrase, or sentence that can be interpreted variously because of uncertainty of grammatical construction rather than ambiguity of the words used, as “John met his father when he was sick.” Also amphibologism, amphiboly. — amphibological, amphibolous, adj.
a lack of grammatical sequence or coherence, as “He ate cereal, fruit, and went to the store.” Also anacoluthia. — anacoluthic, adj.
a repetition of words to resume the sense after a long parenthetical digression. See also rhetoric and rhetorical devices.
the substitution of one grammatical case for another, e.g., use of the nominative where the vocative would normally occur. — antiptotic, adj.
the clause that expresses the consequence in a conditional sentence. Cf. protasis.
Medicine. a neurological defect resulting in an inability to use words in grammatical sequence.
1. the study of the principles by which a language or languages function in producing meaningful units of expression.
2. knowledge of the preferred forms of expression and usage in language. See also linguistics. — grammarian, n. — grammatical, adj.
2. knowledge of the preferred forms of expression and usage in language. See also linguistics. — grammarian, n. — grammatical, adj.
1. Rare. the principles of the study of grammar followed by a grammarian.
2. excessive emphasis upon the fine points of grammar and usage, especially as a shibboleth; dedication to the doctrine of correctness; grammatism.
2. excessive emphasis upon the fine points of grammar and usage, especially as a shibboleth; dedication to the doctrine of correctness; grammatism.
a principle or a point of grammar.
excessively pedantic behavior about grammatical standards and principles. — grammatist, n.
arrangement of thoughts by subordination in grammatical construction. Cf. parataxis. — hypotactic, adj.
Rare. a word or phrase that violates the rules of grammar. — ingrammatically, adj.
1. a declension, conjugation, etc. that provides all the inflectional forms and serves as a model or example for all others.
2. any model or example. — paradigmatic, paradigmatical, adj.
2. any model or example. — paradigmatic, paradigmatical, adj.
arrangement of thoughts as coordinate units in grammatical construction. Cf. hypotaxis. — paratactic, adj.
referring to the ability in some languages to use function words instead of inflections, as “the hair of the dog” for “dog’s hair.” — periphrasis, n.
a clause containing the condition in a conditional sentence. Cf. apodosis. See also drama; wisdom and foolishness. — protatic, adj.
a violation of conventional usage and grammar, as “I are sixty year old.” — solecist, n. — solecistic, solecistical, adj.
the use of a word or expression to perform two syntactic functions, especially to apply to two or more words of which at least one does not agree in logic, number, case, or gender, as in Pope’s line “See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crowned.” — sylleptic, sylleptical, adj.
the practice of using a grammatical construction that conforms with meaning rather than with strict regard for syntax, such as a plural form of a verb following a singular subject that has a plural meaning.
the grammatical principles by which words are used in phrases and sentences to construct meaningful combinations. — syntactic, syntactical, adj.
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
grammar
The way in which elements of a language are put together to make sentences, or the study of the structure of a language.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
| Noun | 1. |  grammar - the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology (and sometimes also deals with semantics)linguistics - the scientific study of language descriptive grammar - a grammar that is produced by descriptive linguistics prescriptive grammar - a grammar that is produced by prescriptive linguistics syntax - studies of the rules for forming admissible sentences morphology - studies of the rules for forming admissible words descriptive linguistics - a description (at a given point in time) of a language with respect to its phonology and morphology and syntax and semantics without value judgments head word, head - (grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent quantifier - (grammar) a word that expresses a quantity (as `fifteen' or `many') grammatical category, syntactic category - (grammar) a category of words having the same grammatical properties subject - (grammar) one of the two main constituents of a sentence; the grammatical constituent about which something is predicated object - (grammar) a constituent that is acted upon; "the object of the verb" grammatical constituent, constituent - (grammar) a word or phrase or clause forming part of a larger grammatical construction clause - (grammar) an expression including a subject and predicate but not constituting a complete sentence article - (grammar) a determiner that may indicate the specificity of reference of a noun phrase parse - analyze syntactically by assigning a constituent structure to (a sentence) agree - show grammatical agreement; "Subjects and verbs must always agree in English" dynamic, active - (used of verbs (e.g. `to run') and participial adjectives (e.g. `running' in `running water')) expressing action rather than a state of being stative - ( used of verbs (e.g. `be' or `own') and most participial adjectives) expressing existence or a state rather than an action active - expressing that the subject of the sentence has the semantic function of actor: "Hemingway favors active constructions" passive - expressing that the subject of the sentence is the patient of the action denoted by the verb; "academics seem to favor passive sentences" attributive, prenominal - of adjectives; placed before the nouns they modify; "`red' is an attributive adjective in `a red apple'" predicative - of adjectives; relating to or occurring within the predicate of a sentence; "`red' is a predicative adjective in `the apple is red'" coordinating, coordinative - serving to connect two grammatical constituents of identical construction; "`and' in `John and Mary' or in `John walked and Mary rode' is a coordinating conjunction; and so is `or' in `will you go or stay?'" subordinating, subordinative - serving to connect a subordinate clause to a main clause; "`when' in `I will come when I can' is a subordinating conjunction" main, independent - (of a clause) capable of standing syntactically alone as a complete sentence; "the main (or independent) clause in a complex sentence has at least a subject and a verb" dependent, subordinate - (of a clause) unable to stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence; "a subordinate (or dependent) clause functions as a noun or adjective or adverb within a sentence" descriptive - describing the structure of a language; "descriptive grammar" prescriptive, normative - pertaining to giving directives or rules; "prescriptive grammar is concerned with norms of or rules for correct usage" endocentric - fulfilling the grammatical role of one of its constituents; "when `three blind mice' serves as a noun it is an endocentric construction" exocentric - not fulfilling the same grammatical role of any of its constituents; "when `until last Easter' serves as an adverb it is an exocentric construction" finite - of verbs; relating to forms of the verb that are limited in time by a tense and (usually) show agreement with number and person non-finite, infinite - of verbs; having neither person nor number nor mood (as a participle or gerund or infinitive); "infinite verb form" syndetic - connected by a conjunction asyndetic - lacking conjunctions transitive - designating a verb that requires a direct object to complete the meaning intransitive - designating a verb that does not require or cannot take a direct object aoristic - of or relating to the aorist tense nominal - pertaining to a noun or to a word group that functions as a noun; "nominal phrase"; "noun phrase" nominative - serving as or indicating the subject of a verb and words identified with the subject of a copular verb; "nominative noun endings"; "predicate nominative" accusative, objective - serving as or indicating the object of a verb or of certain prepositions and used for certain other purposes; "objective case"; "accusative endings" genitive, possessive - serving to express or indicate possession; "possessive pronouns"; "the genitive endings" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
grammar
noun syntax, rules of language the basic rules of grammar see grammatical cases
Quotations
"When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split" [Raymond Chandler Letter to Edward Weeks]
"This is the sort of English up with which I will not put" [Winston Churchill]
"When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split" [Raymond Chandler Letter to Edward Weeks]
"This is the sort of English up with which I will not put" [Winston Churchill]
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
إستِعْمال قَواعِد اللغَهعِلْم الصَّرْفقَواعِد اللغَهنَحْو
граматика
gramatikamluvnicegramatické chyby
grammatikgrammatik-sprogbrug
kielioppi
gramatikaslovnica
nyelvtannyelvhelyesség
málfræîimálfræîibókmálnotkun
文法
문법
gramatikagramatinisgramatiškaigramatiškai taisyklingasvidurinė mokykla
gramatikagramatikas-gramatikas grāmatagramatikas pielietošanapilns ar gramatiskām kļūdām
gramatică
gramatické chybygramatika
slovnica
grammatik
ไวยากรณ์
gramerdil bilgisidilbilgisidilbilgisi kullanımı
ngữ pháp
grammar
[ˈgræməʳ]A. N
B. CPD grammar school N (Brit) → instituto m de segunda enseñanza (al que se accede a través de pruebas selectivas)
GRAMMAR SCHOOL
En el Reino Unido, una grammar school es un centro estatal de educación secundaria selectiva que proporciona formación especialmente dirigida a los alumnos que vayan a continuar hasta una formación universitaria. Normalmente no son centros mixtos y para entrar en ellos se exige un examen escrito. Debido a la introducción en los años sesenta y setenta de las comprehensive schools para las que no hace falta una prueba de acceso, hoy día quedan pocas grammar schools, aunque sí que continúa el debate sobre si la calidad de la educación en estos centros es mejor o si sólo sirven para favorecer el elitismo en la enseñanza.
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
grammar
n
(= subject, book) → Grammatik f, → Sprachlehre f; your grammar is terrible → von Grammatik hast du keine Ahnung; his grammar is excellent → seine Grammatik ist fehlerfrei; that is bad grammar → das ist grammat(ikal)isch falsch
(inf) = grammar school
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
grammar
(ˈgrӕmə) noun1. the rules for forming words and for combining words to form sentences. He's an expert on French grammar.
2. a description or collection of the rules of grammar. Could you lend me your Latin grammar?; (also adjective) a grammar book.
3. a person's use of grammatical rules. This essay is full of bad grammar.
gramˈmatical (-ˈmӕ-) adjective1. (negative ungrammatical) correct according to the rules of grammar. a grammatical sentence.
2. of (a) grammar. a grammatical rule.
gramˈmatically adverbgrammar school
1. a type of secondary school.
2. (American) a primary school.
grammar ends in -ar (not -er).
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
grammar
→ نَحْو gramatika grammatik Grammatik γραμματική gramática kielioppi grammaire gramatika grammatica 文法 문법 grammatica grammatikk gramatyka gramática грамматика grammatik ไวยากรณ์ gramer ngữ pháp 文法Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
grammar
n. gramática.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012