10th grade

[Stevenloan]

1. Although Tom only went to school until 10th grade, he started his own business and made lots of bucks.
2. Although Tom only made it to 10th grade, he started his own business and made lots of bucks.

- Hi guys! Are the two sentences above grammatical and natural to use in spoken English?

Your answers will be greatly appreciated.

StevenLoan

[trolley]

They both may be "grammatical and natural to use", but for some reason (that I can't explain), #1 seems a little oddly worded. There is something about the "only went to school until 10th grade" part that doesn't sit right with me. I'm not sure it's incorrect, but I wouldn't say it that way.

[Erik_Kowal]

Trolley: Perhaps "attended school only {till / as far as} 10th grade"?

[BonnieL]

How about this: Tom only finished the 9th grade, but he went on to start his own business and made a lot of money.

[Bobinwales]

Using the word "bucks" looks as though you are being artificially American. I have no idea if the word is still in common usage even.
And as an aside, I had to Google "9th Grade" to find out how old Tom was when he left school becaue 9th Grade has no meaning to a Brit. If he was British, Tom would have left school after Year 10.
To follow Bonnie's thinking... "Tom left school when he was 15, but he went on to start his own business and made a lot of money".

[Stevenloan]

trolley, Erik, BonnieL and Bob : Thank you all so much for your answers. They are really helpful. Have a nice day.

StevenLoan