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Grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates and combines words (or groups of words) in order to form longer, meaningful units.
For example, in English, the present form of the verb 'be' in the third person has two distinct forms, one (is) being used with a singular subject, and the other (are) with a plural, and if the plural 'are' is combined with a singular subject, the result is usually unacceptable or ungrammatical. Thus, a sentence like: 'This is a book' is grammatical, whereas 'This are a book' is not.
There is a set of rules, which govern how units of meaning may be constructed in any language. So, we may say a person who knows grammar is one who has mastered the language and can apply these rules to express himself or herself in what would be considered acceptable language forms.
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