> "Function word" is a standard term in linguistics (and hence in > many grammar books) for that kind of words (meaning words are the > opposite; these are roughly nouns, verbs, adjectives prepositions > (mostly) and adverbs). Function words are defined as indicating > the function of a phrase (of meaning words) in a sentence > (determiners, conjunctions, ...).
I asked a French grammar teacher meanwhile. In French they are named "outils grammaticaux", which could be translated literally as "grammar tools". I did not know that, neither did I know that they were called "function words" in English ;-). She also added that, as it's a rather vague notion, it's better to be more precise, and distinguish between conjunctions, prepositions, determiners, some adverbs, etc.
