ungrammatically
- adverb
- /ʌnˈɡræmɪkli/
- When he said, "Me want to play outside!" he did so ungrammatically, leading to laughter from his friends.
Examples
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The student often spoke ungrammatically during class discussions, which made it difficult to understand his points.
-
She wrote an email ungrammatically, causing her message to be confusing and hard to follow.
-
"What did I bang it on?" I demanded ungrammatically.
Fiction book (1991) -
"Drive Friendly, the Texas Way," the electric signs over the highway (not freeway) announced, both ungrammatically and deceitfully.
Fiction book (2001) -
I didn't understand how someone who spoke ungrammatically and with an atrocious accent could think clearly about art; he did not have a language in which to make judgments.
Fiction book (2000) -
He gushed words at her nonstop, incoherently, ungrammatically, spewing them all over her.
Fiction book (1995)
Synonyms
In a way that is wrong or not suitable for the situation
Antonyms
How Grammatical
Surface Forms
Morphology
ungrammatically = ungrammatical (transparent) = un + grammar + ical + ly
Formed by adding the adverbial suffix '-ly' to 'ungrammatical'; the negation 'un-' plus 'grammatical' yields the expected meaning.
Etymology
The word ungrammatically breaks into three parts: un- meaning 'not', grammar meaning 'the rules of language', and -ly meaning 'in a way'. So to speak ungrammatically is to speak 'not' following the rules of grammar.