# grammatical

/ɡɹəˈmætəkəɫ/ (US) · /ɡɹɐmˈætɪkəl/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/grammatical
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. correct according to rules

adjective · CEFR B2

describes a sentence or phrase that follows the rules of a language correctly.

For teachers: conforming to the morphosyntactic rules of a specific language; well-formed.

- The teacher checked if the student's essay was grammatical and easy to read.
- Native speakers often produce utterances that are perfectly functional in conversation even if they are not strictly grammatical in a formal sense.

### 2. relating to grammar

adjective · CEFR B2 · Academic

related to the study of the rules of a language.

For teachers: of or pertaining to the system and structure of a language.

- We spent the morning looking at different grammatical structures in the textbook.
- The researcher analyzed the grammatical categories of the newly discovered dialect to determine its relationship to other regional languages.

## Examples

- The teacher checked if my sentence was grammatical.
- Even if a sentence is grammatical, it might not make sense if the vocabulary is used incorrectly.
- Native speakers often produce utterances that are perfectly grammatical in a spoken dialect but would be considered incorrect in a formal academic essay.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.