Content & Function Words
Brad Johnson
Created on January 25, 2024
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Transcript
Content
&
Function
Words
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Understanding content and function words is foundational to understanding English orthography. Many of our conventions or "rules" are often violated because a word is a function word. In fact, the conventions we teach are often attached with this understanding, such as: "Complete native English content words do not end in <i>, <j>, <u>, or <v>. "Content, or lexical, words are those words that carry meaning in our language; they are the nouns, main verbs, adjectives and most adverbs in our lexicon. Function, or grammatical, words are the "glue" that hold sentences together to help them make sense. In the sentence, "The dog ate all of his dinner," dog, ate, and dinner are the content words; the rest are function words.The distinction can be less binary. For example, if I say, "Billy ran three laps around the track," then three is acting as a function word; it is a determiner telling us "how many" laps. However, when I say, "Would he be in the bottom three again?" then three leans more towards the content side; it is a noun.For spelling, content words are typically spelled with three letters or more. Function words may be spelled with less than three, but may be spelled with more, as in through and because. In many content words, like egg, we double a final consonant to follow this "three-letter" convention.Content words are usually found with longer "spellings" than their homophonic counterparts For instance, the /i/ in be is spelled with an <e>, but the same sound is spelled with a digraph <ee> in the noun bee. Some graphemes can be found only in content words, like <j> and <z>. Longer "spellings" may be so that content words attract stress. Often function words in a sentence will have a reduced vowel, as they are unstressed in context. The word for in the sentence, "Dad grilled hamburgers for dinner" sounds more like /fΙr/ and students may spell it *fur. In many instances, we reduce function words so far, they become newer words we may use when we text, like hafta and gonna.
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Definition/Features
Content and Function Words
Sources: Crystal, D. (2011). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. John Wiley & Sons.Cummings, D. W. (1988). American English spelling : an informal description. Johns Hopkins University Press.Function word. (2023, November 15). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function_word
at
dog
squirrels.
Our
small
barks
Read this sentence together. Watch and learn. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
the
loudly
Content and Function Words
Introduction
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down
boys
hallway.
The
two
moved
Read the sentence together. Which words are content words? Which words are function words? How do you know?
a
quietly
Content and Function Words
Practice Together : Identify
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Read together, then work with the students to identify content and function words (the, two, down, a). Students may think of content words as words they can easily draw or act out. Numbers, like two, are often determiners. Here, it is modifying boys.
an
a
shoe.
Birds
built
nest
old
in
Content and Function Words
Practice Together : Identify
Read the sentence together. Which words are content words? Which words are function words? How do you know?
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Again, work with the students to identify content and function words. Use removal or drawing or acting out. (Function words: a, in, an). Keep a chart listing function words you have found so far.
because
search
hunger.
Big
bears
through
of
trash
Content and Function Words
Practice Together : Identify
Read the sentence together. Which words are content words? Which words are function words? How do you know?
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Release more responsibility to students for this one. (Function words: through, because, of). Function words aren't always the "little words." Function words include prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, and determiners.
fast
homework.
highway.
teacher
gives
Add some function words to these content words to help them "make sense" in a sentence.
car
drives
Content and Function Words
Practice Together : Complete
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Students should keep the same order of content words, but you may modify to allow some movement. You may scaffold by providing words they can use or allowing content words as well, but be sure they understand the difference. Answers will vary.
buildings
at
town.
We
look
the
in
tall
Content and Function Words
On Your Own: Identify
Read the sentence. Which words are content words? Which words are function words? How do you know?
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(Function words: we, at, the, in).
store
drove
milk.
Quickly,
Mother
to
for
the
Content and Function Words
On Your Own: Identify
Read the sentence. Which words are content words? Which words are function words? How do you know?
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(Function words: to, the, for).
throw
bottle.
ball.
baby
cries
Add some function words to these content words to help them "make sense" in a sentence.
red
player
Content and Function Words
On Your Own: Complete
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You may provide as much scaffolding as needed. You may require to keep the words in order or that they cannot add other content words. Answers will vary.
Read the sentence with students. Remove the function words (our, at, the). Ask if the sentence makes sense. Remove the content words and ask again. Separate the content & function words. Ask students to Notice & Wonder. Explain the first list as content words. Content words carry meaning. When we remove them, the sentence doesn't make sense.Explain the words in the second list are function words. Function words help connect the content words. They are like the "glue" that helps the content words "go together." When we remove them, our sentence might still make sense, but they might not sound right, maybe more like a robot talking.Students may have noticed function words tend to be short. Although this can be true, it is not always the case.