A particle is a word that

• does not belong to one of the main classes of words
• is invariable in form, and
• typically has grammatical or pragmatic meaning.

The usage of the term particle varies. Some authorities include English prepositions and even English articles as particles.

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.

Glossary Hierarchy