Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Grammar \Gram"mar\, n. [OE. gramere, OF. gramaire, F. grammaire Prob. fr. L. gramatica Gr ?, fem. of ? skilled in grammar, fr. ? letter. See Gramme, Graphic, and cf. Grammatical, Gramarye.]
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The science which treats of the principles of language; the study of forms of speech, and their relations to one another; the art concerned with the right use and application of the rules of a language, in speaking or writing.
Note: The whole fabric of grammar rests upon the classifying of words according to their function in the sentence.
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The art of speaking or writing with correctness or according to established usage; speech considered with regard to the rules of a grammar.
The original bad grammar and bad spelling.
--Macaulay. A treatise on the principles of language; a book containing the principles and rules for correctness in speaking or writing.
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treatise on the elements or principles of any science; as, a grammar of geography. Comparative grammar, the science which determines the relations of kindred languages by examining and comparing their grammatical forms. Grammar school.
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A school, usually endowed, in which Latin and Greek grammar are taught, as also other studies preparatory to colleges or universities; as, the famous Rugby Grammar School. This use of the word is more common in England than in the United States.
When any town shall increase to the number of a hundred families or householders, they shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the University.
--Mass. Records (1647). In the American system of graded common schools, at one time the term referred to an intermediate school between the primary school and the high school, in which the principles of English grammar were taught; now, it is synonymous with primary school or elementary school, being the first school at which children are taught subjects required by the state educational laws. In different communities, the grammar school (primary school) may have grades 1 to 4, 1 to 6, or 1 to 8, usually together with a kindergarten. Schools between the primary school and high school are now commonly termed middle school or intermediate school.
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Wiktionary
n. (context British schools English) The first formal, obligatory school. Usually begins with nursery school or first grade and ends at fifth or sixth grade.
WordNet
n. a school for young children; usually the first 6 or 8 grades [syn: grade school, grammar school, elementary school]
Wikipedia
A primary school or elementary school is a school in which children receive primary or elementary education from the age of about five to twelve, coming before secondary school and after preschool. It is the first stage of compulsory education in most parts of the world, and is normally available without charge, but may be offered in a fee-paying independent school. The term grade school is sometimes used in the US though this term may refer to both primary education and secondary education.
The term primary school is derived from the French école primaire, which was first used in 1802.
- Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO).
- Elementary school is preferred in some countries, especially in the United States and Canada.
In the United States, "primary school" may refer to a school with grades Kindergarten through second grade or third grade. (K-2 or 3). In these municipalities, the "elementary school" includes grade three through five or grades four to six.
In some places, primary schooling has historically further been divided between lower primary schools (LP schools), which were the elementary schools, and higher primary schools (HP schools), which were established to provide a more practical instruction to poorer classes than what was provided in the secondary schools.
Usage examples of "primary school".
Shed become interested in them while studying about the Collective Unconscious in primary school.
I check the bona fides of the Tayari Trade School's mechanical engineering program and discover a curriculum that would not qualify as a challenging primary school course of study.
The window of opportunity would have closed before Horton had left primary school.
The primary school was on his left hand, built in terraces up the slope.
Somehow, knowing the kind of stuff he wrote, I doubt that it was at primary school.
There are others in town, of course, who won't have a bar of us who point out that the eldest Maloney got herself up the duff when she was still at school, the next one is a fairy who makes frocks with the lews in Melbourne, the third one is a brawler who started making trouble when he was still at primary school and keeps a vicious pack of dogs and has gone into the rubbish business with a man who's spent time in gaol for near beating his business partner to death.
There's a primary school that uses it during mainshift for recreation and exercise.
They had been to primary school in Ljubljana, secondary school in Zagreb and thence to Cairo University.
He attended primary school in Gao and college in Bamako, where he finished first in his class.
In the past, if he had been forced to answer that question, he'd have pointed out that he hadn't committed an act of violence since he got into a fight at Primary school.