Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2023 November 14

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 14

Other name for "Grammar words"

Hi everyone, is there a better name for what i call "grammar words" (for lack of a better all-encompassing name), and by that I mean pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners etc. They are sometimes also described as the "closed class words". I am looking for a term that sounds much more serious than "Grammar words", which sounds like what a 5th grader would say. Many thanks in advance for your help. --Lgriot (talk) 02:26, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Parts of speech may be what you're looking for. Recent and more complex analyses also talk about 'open classes' and 'closed classes' of words, as described in the Functional classification section and the following section of that article.{The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.2.5.208 (talk) 03:30, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

I see that another term used for "closed class words" (or at least, something similar to that term) is function words. (I read this stuff on the internet, I disclaim any actual expertise in this area.) Fabrickator (talk) 05:13, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

That is the one! It works for me, thank you, Fabrickator ! --Lgriot (talk) 05:18, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Resolved

Titles

How come titles of major works are written in italics but titles of minor works are "written in quotation marks"?? Georgia guy (talk) 12:49, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@Georgia guy: Because at some time in the past a consensus was reached between contributors to MOS:TITLES that that was how things should be. If you want to change it then, like everyone else, you can start a discussion. Bazza (talk) 13:01, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

It sounds to me as though he's not asking about style in Wikipedia, he's asking about style in books, magazines, newspapers etc. in general. Wikipedia house style in this matter follows common practice. Why it's common practice is a different question. --Viennese Waltz 13:25, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Before the digital age, a distinction could be made between a single physical entity (a book, a report, a newspaper or magazine, a gramophone record, a painting, ..., something you could move around) and content items as can be presented in such entities (a chapter, an article, a song). The convention was that the titles of physical entities are presented in italics, and those of separate content items not. Inasmuch as the convention is used for digital items, it is by analogy to its application in the analog era.  --Lambiam 23:55, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Every single worthwhile publication has its own house style. For example, The Guardian (a UK quality newspaper) eschews all italics and quotes for book titles and everything else: accents (e.g. E grave in French) are similarly frowned upon. Generally, there is absolutely no consensus. There is no hard and fast rule. Worldwide, any competent editor who is going to publish your scribblings will tell you how it should be formatted. Most publishers have style guides for authors, some give more leeway than others. MinorProphet (talk) 23:17, 18 November 2023 (UTC)