Topic: Function

Consider the highlighted phrases in the examples below.

• The rice is marvellous. _{[S1A-022 #262]}
• He was a really nice guy. _{[S1A-006 #21]}

Each of the highlighted phrases adds information about the person or thing picked out by the Subject. Marvellous attributes a property to the rice, and a really nice guy does the same for he.

These phrases have different forms but the same function.

Consider the following example. Here we have two noun phrases which follow the Predicator (the verb).

• I’ll give [you] [the school’s number]. _{[W2F-020 #192]}

Can you see how they build up the meaning of the clause? Both noun phrases refer to participants in the situation of ‘giving’, but the participants have different roles.

Consider the examples below. What do the highlighted phrases add to the meanings?

• He stroked the dog. _{[W2F-018 #175]}
• They carried mugs of beer. _{[W2F-018 #140]}

These phrases tell us who or what is being 'verbed', i.e. who is undergoing the action denoted by the verbs, in these situations: the dog is stroked, the mugs of beer are carried. Without these phrases, our examples would be incomplete.

The Subject of a sentence is often defined as the phrase identifying the agent that carries out the action denoted by the verb. All the examples below involve actions (fleeing, sniffing, writing) carried out by the individuals referred to by the highlighted phrases, and for this reason we identify these phrases as Subjects.

The description of word classes, phrases, and clauses in terms of their structure is part of the study of form. We now turn to the study of grammar from the perspective of function: this notion refers to what words, phrases and clauses do as units of language.