in grammar, a word such as a conjunction, preposition, or pronoun that is used to show the relationship between other words in a sentence or phrase
Meaning of function word in English
(Definition of function word from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
Examples of function word
function word
However, the experimental literature on function word and content word lexical access times does not support this.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In some cases, a particular phonological form may correspond to both a content and a function word.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It is doubtful that in such cases an empty, intervening node exists, waiting to be filled in when the relevant function word class is learned.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The number of utterances where the function word matches the context was calculated, and compared with the number where the content word matches.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It also includes information about cross-linguistic variation in function word growth.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Another example is gone, a well-known function word in early child language.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
When effects were found in function word subsets, they were consistent with the results for corresponding content word subsets.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
No effects of preceding word frequency were found in any content or function word subsets tested, or in function words.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Specifically, when the stop-obstruent sequence is preceded by a vowel, deletion is higher when the 0t,d0 is in a function word.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In other syntactic functions, the comparative was usually followed by an unstressed function word or a pause.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It is even used as one of the main criteria to identify the 'function word' as opposed to 'the lexical word'.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Simple phrasing rules apply to the tagged text to insert phrase boundaries either before or after a function word and before some tensed verbs.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
A bound function word would contain in its lexical entry a prespecified prosodic frame, which characterises it as either proclitic or enclitic.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Any other morphosyntactic element, including a free function word, is prohibited in this position.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It is the status of a word as a function word, in one case, and as a morpheme in an inflectional ending, in another case, that has been examined.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
