BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that closed-class words, such as preposititions and conjunctions, induce a left anterior negativity (N280), indicating that N280 should be a specific component of the word category. OBJECTIVE: To observe if Chinese prepositions and verbs exhibit different linguistic functions, to determine whether they are processed by different neural systems, and to verify that N280 is a specific component. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The observed neurolinguistics experiment was performed at Xuzhou Normal University between November and December 2006. PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen undergraduate students, comprising 8 females and 8 males, with no mental or neuropathological history, were selected. METHODS: A total of 15 verbs and prepositions were used as linguistic stimuli, and each verb and preposition was combined to produce four correct phrase collocations and four incorrect ones. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Event-related potentials were recorded in the subjects while they read correct or incorrect phases flashed upon a video screen. RESULTS: Both verbs and prepositions elicited negativity at the frontal site in a 230-330 ms window, as well as at the fronto-temporal and central sites in a 350-500 ms window. Neither exhibited significant differences in peak [F(1, 15) = 0.144, P= 0.7101 and latency IF(1, 15) = 0.144, P= 0.7101. Both verbs and prepositions elicited negativity at the left and right hemisphere in a 270-400 ms window. CONCLUSION: There was no significant diffence between Chinese prepositions and verbs in the neural system process and N280 was not the specific component for closed-class words.