Function & Content Words: The Basics

Presented by Gina Cooke (Biography)

This 60-minute presentation offers a treatment or organization of parts of speech, categorizing them more broadly as functional or lexical / content words. Function and content words behave quite differently in a language. The distinction between them is important for the study of the English language for several reasons: they help us better comprehend the history of English; they provide a critical framework for understanding grammar; and each category has specific and distinct parameters for spelling. This session presents an overview of function and content words from all three perspectives: historical, grammatical, and orthographic, and points participants to additional study resources. The presentation will be followed by time for Q&A. 

This is a live event and will not be recorded.