grammars

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of grammar.

   Linguists compare the grammars of related languages to see where they drifted apart.

   Computer scientists write formal grammars to define exactly what counts as a valid program.

   Note

   Only the countable meanings of grammar can be counted this way: the rule systems of different languages set side by side, books that describe a language, and the formal systems of linguistics and computing that define what a valid sentence or program is. The study of grammar and ideas about correct usage are uncountable, so a phrase like two grammars never refers to them.

2. 2
   verbobsolete

   Third-person singular simple present of grammar. Obsolete.

   Note

   A relic of an obsolete verb that meant to speak or write by the rules of grammar. It took no object, so a sentence like he grammars well is the shape it once had. A modern reader meeting the word will almost always be looking at the noun plural, and the verb is best left to older texts.

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