English Words ( 3 )

Nidhu Bhusan Das : Now we shall dwell on Structure Words , also known as Function Words or Grammatical Words. Dictionaries do not really give us the meanings of Structure Words. Only how they are used is told. This is how the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary says about the following words : 1. A : The first letter of the English alphabet , indefinite article used before consonant sounds and a noun. 2. The : definite article used for referring to somebody/something that has already been mentioned or can be understood ---- etc. ( lists 14 uses ). 3. He : personal pronoun used as the subject of a verb. 4. And : Used to connect words of the same part of speech, phrases or clauses. 5. Alas : expressing sorrow or regret. 6. At : indicating a point in space, or an exact point of time,etc. 7. Be : used after there and before a/an ,no, some, etc.Also used with a past participle to form passive or with a present participle to form continuous tenses. 8. Can : modal verb used with the infinitive without to , indicating ability. Need for Structure Words : The meaning of a sentence is not produced by the content words only. The Structure Words also contribute to the meaning. Let us see how : The book is on the table. This is a sentence made up of content and structure words. Now if we pluck out the structure words ‘the ‘ , ‘on’ ‘the’ we find the group of content words ‘book is table ‘. This does not yield meaning. Content or lexical words denote objects , actions , qualities,etc while structure words produce meanings like the time of action, relationships between objects ,definite or indefinite object,etc. Besides, lexical words convey their meanings by themselves. Each lexical word contains its own meaning. The meaning of a structure word , on the other hand , comes from its association with another word. The meanings of articles a/an and the are conveyed only when the articles are attached to nouns. The meaning of a pronoun comes only when we know the noun it stands for. We get the meaning of a preposition only when we know the two entities it relates. The meaning of a content word is the ‘lexical meaning’ and for the structure word it is ‘structural meaning. ( to be continued )