Functions and Effects of Particles in English and Arabic

Particles are functional words which syntactically and semantically cannot stand alone without association with other words like the verbs and the nouns. This study handles the category of the particles which is not clearcut in English and Arabic. It also talks about the effects on time reference of the particles when they combine with the verbs. In addition, it deals with the functions of the particles in English and Arabic. This study hypothesizes that there are differences in using of the particles in the English and Arabic, particles in Arabic have time reference which cannot be indicated by English ones and different functions can be expressed in English and Arabic particles. This study basically aims at confirming or denying what has been hypothesized by describing the particles in English and Arabic as they are ones of the parts of speech in both languages. The model for this study is Quirk et al. (1985) and Cappelle (2005) for English grammar, while Al-Murady (1992) and Bilhaf (2009) for Arabic grammar. These are used to shed light on these similarities and differences through a thick description of the particles in both languages. The results show that the English particles do not have any effects on time reference while the Arabic particles have the ability to change the whole tense from present to past or to future. In addition, the functions of the particles are different in every language.