grammar
Grammar describes how a language is built: it orders word forms, sentence structure and rules of correct use, and can also name a handbook or a school class.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Definitions
- ling. / gram. Discipline that describes how a language is built: word forms, their relations in the sentence, and rules for speaking and writing correctly. It leaves orthography, etymology, and bare phonetics alone; those order spelling, origin trails, and speech sounds.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - hist. lex. Older lexica already mark the field: Webster 1913 under GRAMMAR pairs language principles with correct usage and with a book of rules; Arct 1921 prints Gramatyka for language properties and usage rules; Brückner 1927 opens Polish gramatyka for language study. Lexical witnesses only.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (GRAMMAR); M. Arct 1921 (Gramatyka); A. Brückner 1927 (gramatyka), open source - hist. / etym. Skeat 1910 under GRAMMAR follows French, Latin, Greek: Middle English grammere, Old French gramaire, Late Latin grammatica, Greek γραμματική from γραμματικός (knowing one's letters). Webster points to OE gramere, OF gramaire, and γράμμα (letter). Evidence, not a classroom gloss.
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Editorial team; facts: W. W. Skeat 1910 (GRAMMAR); Webster 1913 (GRAMMAR), open source - colloq. In classroom and casual talk: a loose label for any remark about correctness, or for the textbook itself, without a structural method. Blurry range, pending review.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Examples
- Students had to separate claims from grammar (forms, syntax, usage rules) from spelling-norm decisions and from etymological accounts.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - The syllabus placed grammar with the description of language structure; morphology stayed with word structure, and syntax with sentence arrangement.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - The notebook listed Arct (1921) on Gramatyka with language properties and an old second class, Webster 1913 on GRAMMAR as language principles, Skeat 1910 deriving GRAMMAR from Greek letter-art, and Brückner 1927 opening Polish gramatyka.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - A columnist warned that talk about grammar without sources and without a split from orthography turns into a list of style preferences with no procedure.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - She set a structure-focused plan for the word list against a bare list of preferred spellings, asking where form description stops and letter norms begin.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Usage
Casual English often blends the lemma with spelling talk, with any remark about correctness, or with the handbook itself. Careful prose keeps layers apart: a description of language structure (forms, syntax, usage rules), lexical witnesses (Arct, Brückner, Webster, Skeat), older label overlap (Arct and Brückner tying an old second school class; Webster also keeping a book sense and a transfer to any science), and informal shorthand that names no method. Name the layer, or the word slides into taste about a neat sentence or into spelling alone.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Under GRAMMAR Webster 1913 describes the science of language principles, the study of speech forms and their relations, and the art of applying rules in speaking or writing. He also notes correct usage by custom, a treatise or book of rules, and a transfer to elements of any science (as a grammar of geography). Etymology runs through OE gramere, OF gramaire, French grammaire, and the Latin and Greek trail from the letter word. Full quotation belongs in the etymology field; here the glosses remain lexical evidence, not the service definition.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourceSkeat under GRAMMAR traces a French, Latin, Greek trail: Middle English grammere, Old French gramaire (12th cent.; Hatzfeld), Late Latin grammatica, then Greek for the art of letters. Derivatives include grammarian, grammar-school, and grammatical. Arct 1921 prints Gramatyka beside glosses on language features, rule sets, correct speech and writing practice, a former second class, and music theory; OCR is often garbled. Brückner 1927 records Polish gramatyka via Latin grammaticus and the Greek letter-skill family, and notes gramatka, gamratka, gamrot(k)a beside ramota.
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Editorial team; facts: W. W. Skeat 1910; M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921; A. Brückner 1927 (gramatyka), open sourceSeminar and textbook prose favours phrases such as descriptive grammar, school grammar, grammatical error, grammatical rule, and grammar handbook. Grammatical is the usual adjective. Careful writers keep the term away from bare orthography (spelling norms), etymology (origin trails), morphology (word-internal structure), syntax (sentence arrangement), phonology (sound system), and semantics (meaning). Borders still vary by author. Treating every style preference as linguistic grammar empties the label.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (GRAMMAR), open sourceWord forms
Regular English noun. Usually uncountable when naming the craft or discipline (grammar is...). Countable singular appears in phrases such as a grammar of English. Plural grammars appears when contrasting national systems, school books, or theoretical frameworks.
word forms
| przypadek | forma |
|---|---|
| uncountable (usual) | grammar |
| countable singular (a system / book) | a grammar |
| plural (systems / books) | grammars |
| related adjective | grammatical |
Word forms: Editorial team
Collocations
- descriptive grammar
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - school grammar
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - grammatical error
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - grammatical rule
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - grammar handbook
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Synonyms · Antonyms
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Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913 (GRAMMAR); M. Arct 1921 (Gramatyka); A. Brückner 1927 (gramatyka), open sourcesource
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Etymology
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourcealso
W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910 (GRAMMAR: Gk. γραμματική; Der. grammarian, grammar-school, grammatical), open sourcealso
M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921 (Gramatyka), open sourcealso
A. Brückner, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego, Kraków 1927 (gramatyka), open sourceRelated words
- grammatical , adjective: relating to grammar
- morphology , lexical neighbour (ling. / gram.): talk of word structure against talk of language rules
- syntax , lexical neighbour (ling. / gram.): talk of sentence arrangement against talk of language rules
- orthography , lexical neighbour (ling. / gram.): talk of spelling norms against talk of language rules
- phonology , lexical neighbour (ling. / gram.): talk of the sound system against talk of language rules
- semantics , lexical neighbour (ling. / philos.): talk of meaning of language units against talk of language rules
- etymology , lexical neighbour (ling. / gram.): talk of origin trails against talk of language rules
- gramatyka , etymologically related Polish noun (Arct: Gramatyka; Brückner: gramatyka; Skeat/Webster Greek trail)
Related entries
The same entry in Polish: gramatyka
Questions and answers
What does grammar mean?
It names the description of language structure: forms, syntax, and rules of correct use. Webster 1913 and Skeat 1910 record the historical trail. Informal talk often flattens the name into vague correctness remarks or into the textbook itself. Context decides.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Where does the word grammar come from?
Greek supplies γράμμα (letter, writing) plus γραμματικός / γραμματική. Skeat 1910 lists GRAMMAR on a French, Latin, Greek path; Webster 1913 prints GRAMMAR with OE gramere and OF gramaire. Arct 1921 records Polish Gramatyka. Brückner 1927 opens lemma gramatyka from Latin grammaticus.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913; W. W. Skeat 1910; M. Arct 1921; A. Brückner 1927, open sourceHow is grammar pronounced, and what is the IPA?
This page uses /ˈɡɹæmɚ/ from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary via pipeline/ipa-en.mjs, where the lemma grammar is present. The usual adjective is grammatical. Primary stress falls on the first syllable in this CMU reading.
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Editorial team; facts: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary via pipeline/ipa-en.mjs (lemma grammar), open sourceHow does grammar differ from orthography, and is it the same as Polish gramatyka?
Grammar asks how forms and sentences are built and used under structural rules. Orthography asks how words are spelled under a writing norm. Polish gramatyka is the matching classroom noun. The split is editorial and didactic; everyday speech often blurs both labels.