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Function Words in English
Function words are a closed class of words that serve to express grammatical relationships rather than convey specific meanings. They are used to link content words, maintain sentence structure, and provide necessary grammatical context.
This page explores what function words mean and contrasts them with content words. A comprehensive list of function words is also provided.
What are Function Words?
As opposed to content words, function words (also called grammatical words) are words that have little lexical meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence.
Function words are closed-class words. Languages do not easily add new words to this set. They are always relatively few and resistant to change.
They are lexically unproductive and are generally invariable in form.
Examples of function words are prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, and particles.
Function Words Vs Content Words
Function words primarily serve to express grammatical relationships and are generally a closed class. They include prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, and particles. In contrast, content words carry the main meaning of a sentence and are an open class, allowing new additions.
Function Words:
- Serve grammatical purposes
- Include prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, and particles
- Closed-class words (rarely change or add new words)
- Lexically unproductive and generally invariable in form
- Example: “and,” “the,” “is”
Content Words:
- Carry semantic meaning
- Include nouns, main verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
- Open-class words (new words can be added)
- Lexically productive and can change form
- Example: “dog,” “run,” “happy,” “quickly”
Key Differences:
- Function words express relationships between content words, while content words convey the main ideas.
- Function words are limited in number, while content words continually expand in language.
Function Words List
Here is an extensive list of function words:
Prepositions:
- of, at, in, on, without, between, under, over, beside, through, during, among, across, against, towards, around, before, after, along, behind, below, beyond, despite, except, from, inside, near, onto, outside, past, since, till, until, upon, within
Pronouns:
- he, she, it, they, we, you, I, me, him, her, us, them, anybody, somebody, nobody, everybody, anyone, someone, no one, everyone, this, that, these, those, each, either, neither, one, all, some, many, few, any, none, both
Determiners:
- the, a, an, that, this, those, these, my, your, his, her, its, our, their, more, most, much, many, few, less, every, each, either, neither, any, some, no, several, all, both, enough, one, two (and other numbers)
Conjunctions:
- and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so, although, because, since, unless, until, when, while, whereas, after, before, if, even though, though, as long as, provided that
Auxiliary Verbs:
- be (is, am, are, was, were, being, been), have (has, had, having), do (does, did), will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, must
Particles:
- no, not, nor, as, to (in the infinitive form, e.g., to run), up, out, off, down, about, around, aside, away, back, apart
Question words:
- how, where, what, when, why, who
Others:
- Interjections: oh, ah, eh, hmm, wow, ouch
- Articles: a, an, the
- Quantifiers: some, many, much, few, little, several, enough
Things to Remember about Function Words
- Grammatical Role: Function words serve to express grammatical relationships rather than convey specific meanings.
- Closed Class: They belong to a closed class, meaning new function words are rarely added to the language.
- Types: Include prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, particles, articles, and quantifiers.
- Stability: Generally resistant to change and invariable in form.
- Frequency: Frequently used in sentences to link content words and maintain sentence structure.
- Supportive Role: Function words provide the necessary framework for the meaningful content provided by content words.
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