SOME NOTES ON FUNCTIONS Function is the grammatical job that any word (or word group) does in its

particular position. It is the grammatical meaning [Stageberg, 1983:216].

1. Subject of verb: that which performs action of verb: that which is described, identified or about which an assertion is made, e.g. Eating chocolates made her sick 2. Verb: that which asserts an action or state, e.g. Eating chocolates made her sick 3. Subject complement: that which follows be or a verb like become & identifies the subject, e.g. The winners were the men from Hawaii 4. Direct object: that which undergoes the action of the verb, e.g. He hated arriving late

5. Indirect object: that person or thing to or for whom an action is performed. The prepositional object contain to when the participant is Recipient and for when it is Beneficiary and this difference is determined by the verb. e.g.:- He did not give finding the cat a second thought(=He did not give a second thought to finding the cat) -Would you cash me these traveler checks? (=Would you cash these traveler checks for me?) 5. Object complement(=object-predicative): that which completes the direct object & describes or identifies it, e.g. Eating chocolates made her sick 6. Object of preposition: that which is related to another word by a preposition, e.g. We thought of paying cash

8. Complement of noun: a word group that behaves like a direct object of the verb corresponding to the noun. (PrepP, that cl. & inf. Cl). A noun complement is also known as contentive, so called because the complement clause (or phrase) normally specifies the content of its head noun. [Jacobs, 1995:100] e.g.: His notion that the stars influence our lives could not be shaken (that-clause is a n-al, that is a subordinating conj.) His refusal to submit without a fight was courageous But He was not the man to submit without a fight post.n-al mod.

NOTES *Only nouns with related verbs like refusal, desire, intention, promise, hope, offer, attempt, resolution, order can take a complement of the noun in infinitive form * Rel Clauses, either restrictive or non-restrictive, are NOT noun complements; they are optional post-nominal modifiers in noun phrases.

9. Complement of adjective: a word group that directly follows & completes an adjective, e.g.: Jim is doubtful that he can pass the course That-cl as CAdj Jim is doubtful of passing the course (PrepP as CAdj) We were reluctant to leave ( Inf. Cl as CAdj) Complement of adjective ><Adverbial: -She was glad that he was safe (CAdj) but not That he was safe she was glad -She was glad when he arrived (adv-al) =When he arrived she was glad

10. Modifier: that which modifies, limits, or adds to the meaning of a word or word group. A modifier can be a word or word group, e.g. He is the man to answer this question (= He is the man who should answer this question) Compare: -The story that Eleanor had met with the senator nC (tells us what the story is about) -The story that Eleanor had given to the senator Post n-al Mod (does not supply the content of the story) 10. Connector: that which connects words &/or word groups. The connectors are coordinating & subordinating conjunctions, prepositions, &