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Jackson6612 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Is it true that a preposition is a functional word

Is it true that a preposition is a functional word not having a 'meaning' of its own? What kind of 'meaning' is it supposed to have? Perhaps, it's like a mathematical operator, +, -, x, whose operations can be explained but they don't stand for anything physical. For example, in the case of 2+3, 2 and 3 could stand for a number of apples. So, one can say a preposition is a 'syntactical' operator. Am I thinking along the right lines?
  

Top answer

Function words have meanings-- just take a look at the dictionary entry for 'of'-- but your explanation of how they work, tying together and relating lexical words (nouns, verbs, etc) is pretty good.

  • Function words have meanings-- just take a look at the dictionary entry for 'of'-- but your explanation of how they work, tying together and relating lexical words (nouns, verbs, etc) is pretty good.
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1 Answers
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Function words have meanings-- just take a look at the dictionary entry for 'of'-- but your explanation of how they work, tying together and relating lexical words (nouns, verbs, etc) is pretty good.

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