grammarian

Everyday

1. A person who studies grammar, the rules of how words and sentences are built in a language, or who writes books about it. tree →
2. (informal) Someone who cares a lot about correct grammar. tree →

In the lessons

In language lessons and olympiads grammarians are the experts who describe languages, such as the ancient Indian grammarian Pāṇini or writers of school grammar books. In everyday life a «grammar fan» corrects others' mistakes. Phrases: a strict grammarian, ancient grammarians.

Examples

• Pāṇini was an ancient grammarian who described Sanskrit. tree →
• A grammarian would say «fewer apples», not «less apples». tree →
• The grammarian wrote a big book about English verbs. tree →
• My aunt is a real grammarian and corrects every text. tree →
• Grammarians study how languages change over time. tree →
• Not every grammarian agrees about split infinitives. tree →
• I replied that I had been educated as a grammarian and a poet, but that my great gift was writing. tree →

Note

Plural: grammarians. Stress: gruh-MAIR-ee-un. Spelling: grammar ends in -ar, not -er. Modern grammarians mostly describe how people really speak rather than give strict rules; dialects have their own grammar too.

In Jewish tradition

Interpretation: Medieval Hebrew grammarians disagreed about whether the five final letters count as separate letters, which would make 27 letters instead of 22. In the primary lessons: In language lessons and olympiads grammarians are the experts who describe languages, such as the ancient Indian grammarian Pāṇini or writers of school grammar books. In everyday life a «grammar fan» corrects others' mistakes. Phrases: a strict grammarian, ancient grammarians.

Examples

• Some grammarians, though they do not con- sider the linals as separate letters, yet count the letters twenty- (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
• As is well-known, some old grammarians, among whom was the author of the "Dikduke ha-Teamim"" counted the final letters as separate letters, thus making the total number oi the letters of the alphabet twenty-seven. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
• The Hebrew grammarians under Arabic influence came to believe that tliose rules of ortho- graphy which the Arab grammarians invented for the language of the Koran hold good also for the language of the Old Testament. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →

Note

Plural: grammarians. Stress: gruh-MAIR-ee-un. Spelling: grammar ends in -ar, not -er. Modern grammarians mostly describe how people really speak rather than give strict rules; dialects have their own grammar too.