"Is this sentence grammatical?"

P

Primal

Senior Member
Halifax, Canada
English - Canada
prankstare said:
Is this sentence grammatical?
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Is it grammatically correct to ask, "Is this sentence grammatical." What prankstare meant was, "Is the grammar in this sentence correct?" or, "Is this sentence grammatically correct?" But I wasn't sure if this question itself was correct. On another thread, he asked the same question, and someone responded, "Yes this sentence is grammatical." Both of these sentences do not sound right to me. Can someone please explain?

Thanks,
Prymal
 
    • The sentence "Is this sentence grammatical?" is indeed grammatically correct.

    It sounds clumsy and odd but it is correct. One definition of the word "grammatical" is "conforming to the rules of grammar". When you ask if a sentence is "grammatical", you are basically asking if it conforms to the rules of grammar, so it is correct.
     
    Yeah. Thanks. Sorry about that. I did check the forums for a previous thread, and I always check the dictionarys for translations, but I forgot the most common use of a dictionary: definitions.:eek::p I'll try to remember that for future referance.

    Thanks again,
    Prymal
     
    GreenWhiteBlue I didn't say it was ungrammatical, I said it sounded clumsy.

    I see it as similar to saying something like, "Mary is musical." This sentence is correct (because one of the many definitions of "musical" is "fond of or skilled in music") but it is ambiguous. Another possible interpretation of the sentence is that Mary is rather like a musical card - when you pop her open, she plays music.

    It is much less ambiguous to say, "Mary is musically inclined." That way, one can never imagine that Mary was designed by Hallmark.


    That is the same way I view saying, "That sentence is grammatical" as opposed to "That sentence is grammatically correct." The latter leaves no room for doubt.
     
    Nymeria said:
    [...]
    I see it as similar to saying something like, "Mary is musical." This sentence is correct (because one of the many definitions of "musical" is "fond of or skilled in music") but it is ambiguous. Another possible interpretation of the sentence is that Mary is rather like a musical card - when you pop her open, she plays music. [...]
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    Oh come on Nymeria, you can't really be serious.
    Your example, "Mary is musical," is a bit bare, but unless you are being deliberately devious it is clear and unambiguous.
     
    Nope Panjamdrum, I'm being quite serious. Perhaps it is a regional thing. If you were to say 'Mary is musical' to the average person here, obviously they would understand you because common sense would intervene and common sense dictates that Mary does not have a battery in her and a power button. Therefore the only interpretation left is that she either likes music or is good at it.

    There would, however, be that split second delay while it is processed because use of the word "musical" in that sense is just not that common here. It is MUCH more common to say that she is "musically inclined". It is also MUCH more common to hear that a sentence is "grammatically correct" here than to hear that it is "grammatical" which is why it sounds odd to my ears.
     
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