grammar

play

noun gram·mar \ ˈgra-mər \

Definition of grammar

1 a :the study of the classes of words, their inflections (see inflection 3), and their functions and relations in the sentence

b :a study of what is to be preferred and what avoided in inflection (see inflection 3) and syntax (see syntax 1)

2 a :the characteristic system of inflections (see inflection 3) and syntax of a language

b :a system of rules that defines the grammatical structure of a language

3 a :a grammar textbook

b :speech or writing evaluated according to its conformity to grammatical rules

appalled at the bad grammar of college students

4 :the principles or rules of an art, science, or technique

a grammar of the theater

; also :a set of such principles or rules

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grammarian

play \grə-ˈmer-ē-ən\ noun

See grammar defined for English-language learners

See grammar defined for kids

Examples of grammar in a Sentence

English grammar can be hard to master.
comparing English and Japanese grammar
comparing the grammars of English and Japanese
“Him and I went” is bad grammar.
I know some German, but my grammar isn't very good.

Recent Examples of grammar from the Web

Stannis Baratheon used to correct people's grammar all the time, and in fact made that exact same correction to Ser Davos in season 2 and in season 5.

— nina bahadur, SELF, "The Best Thing About ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 7 Is Everything That Happened Before Season 7," 25 Aug. 2017
You are presumably engaged, in part, for your presumed expertise in English grammar and usage.

— john e. mcintyre, baltimoresun.com, "Eight rules for editors," 25 Aug. 2017
The curriculum also includes a digital writing coach that is much like the spelling and grammar check in Microsoft (msft, -0.49%) Word.

— jonathan vanian, Fortune, "Here’s Amazon’s Plan to Make Students Better Writers," 23 Aug. 2017
But Saturday seemed to be an especially bad grammar day for him—and Twitter wasn't about to let that go unnoticed.

— ashley edwards walker, Glamour, "It Took Trump Three Tweets to Spell "Heal" Right, and the Internet Lost It," 20 Aug. 2017
These films grappled with new subjects and spoke in a new kind of movie grammar.

— chris nashawaty, PEOPLE.com, "They're Young, They're in Love, and They Kill People: How Bonnie and Clyde Revolutionized Hollywood," 12 Aug. 2017
Emojis are part of a broader phenomenon playing out across social media: English is exploding, at the moment, with new words and new grammars and new modes of human expression.

— megan garber, The Atlantic, "The Awkward Language of The Emoji Movie," 4 Aug. 2017
Most cities have snow cones, or snowballs, or snoballs; for some reason shaved ice and poor spelling and grammar seem entwined.

— rick bragg, Southern Living, "From the Magazine's Pages: Summer Snow," 11 July 2017
The title is a reference to the spelling, punctuation and grammar errors that pepper the emails, tweets and posts the couple receives.

— terry collins, CBS News, "Here's the brutal reality of online hate," 6 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'grammar.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of grammar

Middle English gramere, from Anglo-French gramaire, modification of Latin grammatica, from Greek grammatikē, from feminine of grammatikos of letters, from grammat-, gramma — more at gram

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First Known Use: 14th century

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