"Function" vs "functionality"

[Michael Sullivan]

"Go/went" have been mainstream in the UK for decades. I don't agree that they're going any way to making "say/said" obsolete. I teach learners to recognise them but not to use them.

Have you noticed that some speakers say "functionality" when they mean "function"? FUNCTIONALITY should be used with caution.

 

[probus]

This should be a separate thead. If you want to discuss this please post a new thread: Function versus functionality or something like that.

 

[Michael Sullivan]

This should be a separate thread. If you want to discuss this please post a new thread: Function versus functionality or something like that.

What do I click on to start a new thread? I looked at the top of this page & I didn't see anything..

 

[probus]

I think you must have made ten posts before you can create new threads so let's have the function vs functionality discussion here. As a descriptivist I don't feel strongly about it. Either is fine by me.

 

[emsr2d2]

@Michael Sullivan I have started a new thread here for your question, and attached the relevant responses.

 

[Michael Sullivan]

I think you must have made ten posts before you can create new threads so let's have the function vs functionality discussion here. As a descriptivist I don't feel strongly about it. Either is fine by me.

What is a descriptivist?

 

[probus]

Prescriptivists are people who believe in and sometimes lay down rules for English usage. A descriptivist like me believes that anything commonly used by native speakers is correct by definition. To take a couple of examples:

1. It has been claimed by some that "between" should be used when there are exactly two cases, and "among" when there are more than two. But native speakers sometimes use between in the latter situation, and therefore in my view between must be considered good English.

2. Never end a sentence with a preposition. The (probably apochryphal) rebuttal attributed to Churchill was: that is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.

 

[Tarheel]

Have you noticed that some speakers say "functionality" when they mean "function"? FUNCTIONALITY should be used with caution.

No, I haven't. If I was tutoring somebody in English I would discourage them from using functionality.