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Grammar-Quizzes › Clauses › Clause Structure › Function vs. Category

Function vs. Category

Differentiate what a word does from what it is called

We saw some colorful leaves on the ground.

⇒ DIAGRAM

► How does word function differ from word category?

Word Functions in a Clause
Understand the multiple uses of words, phrases and clauses
Grammatical Function — how a word, phrase or clause is used in a sentence
FUNCTION "ROLE"
Subject—(Subj)
The subject is usually the
cause, agent or doer of the
action
but may also be the experiencer
of a state or thing undergoing a
change ("be" or static verb).
but may also be the thing
(person, concept, entity) that we
choose to place in the subject
position (as in passive voice, or
it, there, ).
but may also be understood,
not mentioned.
The subject is usually a noun
phrase but may be a
subordinate clause.
A number of words, phrases
and structures can function as
the subject of a clause. ⇒
Predicate/Predicator (Pred)
The predicate is the action or
change in state.
A number of verb forms and
verb groups serve as the
predicate of a clause. ⇒
Complement (Comp)
A complement is a word, phrase
or clause that is expected or
required to complete the
meaning of some other element
or structure in the clause. That
is, the clause or phrase would
not sound complete without the
word, phrase or clause.
A number of elements and
structures can serve as
LEXICAL CATEGORY / PART OF SPEECH
The leaves fell on the ground. (Noun Phrase)
Charlie raked the leaves. (Proper Noun)
The leaves were raked by Charlie. (Noun Phrase) passive voice
He raked the leaves. (Pronoun)
What we saw was spectacular. (What Phrase) static verb
That the leaves are so colorful is amazing. (That Cls)
Raking leaves is good exercise. (Gerund Cls)
To see this miracle of nature is awesome. (Infinitive Cls)
It was amazing to us that the leaves were so red. ("It" as Subject
Placeholder)
It was raining. (It vs. There)
There were so many leaves. (There)
Rake up the leaves. (Commands) subject understood, not
mentioned
Leaves fall. (Verb)
The leaves appear red. (Static Verb)
Leaves are falling. (Verb Group)
Leaves may fall. (Modal Verb Group)
The leaves were raked by Charlie. (Passive Verb Group)
Leaves are falling on the ground. (Verb Phrase)
Charlie raked the leaves. (Noun Phrase–Direct Object)
I gave Charlie the rake. (Noun–Indirect Object)
Charlie put the leaves in the compost bin. (Noun Phrase
Complement in Prep Phrase)
The leaves are pretty. (Adjective–Predicate Complement)
The leaves are maple. (Noun–Predicate Complement)
The leaves fell on the ground. (Prepositional Phrase)
We enjoy seeing the colorful leaves. (Verb + Gerund )
We wanted to see the colorful leaves. (Verb + Infinitive )
complements. ⇒ Maple trees do remarkably well here. (Adverb Complement)

We know that leaves had fallen overnight. (Clause Complement

to a Verb)
Charlie left rather than waiting for us. (Ger Cls Complement
in Prep Phrase)

Water that he drank last night made him sick. (Restrictive Clause
Complement to a Noun)

Adjunct Charlie raked the leaves quickly. (Manner Adverb)

An adjunct is an element that is
not required to complete the
meaning of the clause; it can be
omitted and the clause sounds
complete (makes sense). An
adjunct adds modifying
information to the clause—
mostly adverbs and
prepositional phrases.
Charlie raked the leaves often. (Frequency Adverb)
Charlie really raked the leaves well. (Degree Adverb)
Charlie raked the leaves into a pile. (Prep Phrase)
Charlie only raked the leaves in front. (Focus Adverb)
Trees drop their leaves when the weather is cold. (Connective
Prep Phrase)

Trees drop their leaves before winter sets in. (Connective Prep
Phrase)
Trees drop their leaves because they need to conserve energy.
(Connective Prep Phrase)

Supplement Who, do you think, raked the leaves? (Clause–Comments)

A supplement is an extra
comment in the form of a word,
phrase or clause. It is loosely
related to the idea of the main
(matrix) clause. It is separated
by comma(s), parentheses or
dash(es).
By the way, Charlie raised his hand. (Phrase–Adv for Speech
Acts)
Hopefully, Charlie knows the answer. (Adverb–Adv for Evaluation)
A wunderkind (very intelligent child) requires special education.
(Phrase–Explaining)
Charlie can do it all—repairman, gardener, engineer. (Noun
Phrase–Set off Elements, Examples)

Also see Word Functions – Subject, Predicate Complement, Adjunct and Supplement or Modifiers or
Determiners.

(Huddleston & Pullum 4 §3)

A Predicate:

In traditional description, the predicate includes the subject, the verb or verb group and its dependents

—adverbs, objects and phrases related to the action of the verb.

In linguistic description, the predicate (PRED) is a function that takes form as a verb or verb group.
Only! (See Verb Phrase: Explanation of Term)

Note: Subject-verb is a term often paired like salt and pepper. To be precise, we should pair subject
with predicate (and noun with verb).
 Word Functions: Subj – subject; Pred – predicate/predicator; Comp – complement: an element or
elements required by a word or structure to complete its meaning in the clause (e.g., DO – direct
object; IO – indirect object; PP - prep. phrase); Adjunct – adjunct: elements not required by an
expression to complete its meaning (Subord – subordinator; Coord – coordinator); Supl –
supplement: a clause or phrase added onto a clause that is not closely related to the central thought or
structure of the main clause.

Word Categories (lexical categories)

What a word, phrase, or clause is called

Word Category—"Part of Speech"

WORD CATEGORY CLAUSE EXAMPLE AND (FUNCTION)

Noun (N) Leaves fell. (Subject)

Nominal (Nom)¹ We raked the leaves. (Direct Object)
Noun Phrase (NP) Charlie showed me the leaves on the ground. (Indirect Object)

(Noun Properties) Charlie walked on the leaves. (Object of Preposition)

Charlie put them in the leaf bin. (Modifier)

Verb (V) The leaves are colorful. ("Be" Predicate Copula)

Verb Phrase (VP) The leaves fall. (Predicate)
(Verb Properties) The leaves are falling. (Predicate)
The leaves have been falling. (Predicate)

Adjective (Adj) They are colorful leaves. (Modifier)

Adjective Phrase (AdjP) Pigments turn the leaves red. (Object Complement)
(Adjective Properties) The very colorful leaves occur in October. (Modifier Phrase)
The more colorful leaves belong to the Japanese Maple. (Modifier
Phrase)

Adverb (Adv) Charlie raked slowly. (Manner Adverb)

Adverb Phrase (AdvP) Charlie arrived early. (Time)
(Adverb Properties) Charlie raked there. (Location)

Charlie worked much too slowly. (Intensifier / Degree Adverb)

Preposition (P) The leaves floated down. (Location)

Prepositional Phrase (PP)
(Preposition Properties)
The leaves floated to the ground. (Location)
Charlie put off raking up the leaves (Particle–Phrasal Verbs)
Charlie raked the leaves in order to clean up the yard. (Prep
Phrase [reason])
Charlie raked up the leaves in a flash. (Expressions)
Trees drop their leaves because of the cold weather. (Adjunct Prep
Phrase)

Trees drop their leaves because they need to conserve energy.

(Adjunct Prep Phrase)

Determiner (D) The leaves fell over the period of a month. (Article)
Determinative Phrase (DP) Some leaves fell last week. (Indefinite Quantity)
These leaves fell last night. (Demonstratives)

Its leaves fell off. (Possessive Pronoun)

Almost every leaf had fallen. (Determinative Phrase)

Subordinator (Subord) We know that [the leaves will turn brown]. (That-clause)
Charlie wants to [do the right thing]. (infinitival subordinator)
It is important for [Charlie] to [do the right thing]. (subject
subordinator in infinitival clause)

Coordinator (Coord) We were raking and putting the leaves in the leaf bin. (Coordinator)
They were raking leaves, and we were putting them in the compost
bin. (Coordinator)

Interjection (Interj) Oh man! Look at that. (Speech Acts, Interjections, Aside

Comments, Discourse Markers)

¹ Nominal an intermediary category between Noun and Noun Phrase: N leaves; Nominal colorful
leaves; NP the colorful leaves. This term often occurs in diagramming and refers to sub-groupings of
modifiers and complements within a noun phrase. See diagram in the next section.

(Huddleston1§4.2.2) (Payne 7.2)

Also see A Clause: examine the parts that make up a clause.

Word Categories: N – Noun; V – Verb; Aux – Auxiliary; Adj – Adjective; Adv – Adverb; P –
Preposition; Det –Determiner. See Word Categories.

Phrasal Categories: NP – Noun Phrase; VP – Verb Phrase; AdjP – Adjective Phrase; AdvP – Adverb
Phrase; PP – Prepositional Phrase; DP – Determinative Phrase.
 Clausal Categories: Cls – clause; F – finite clause; NF – nonfinite clause: Ger – gerund, Inf –
infinitive, PPart – past participle.

Linear Labeling
Marking function and word category

Linear labeling for function and category

Trees are often helpful for visualizing sentence structure. A sentence can also be labeled in a linear
manner. For example, the function and category [function–word category] can be inserted after each
word, phrase or category. Labeling will vary depending on the amount of detail desired.

CLAUSE EXAMPLES

We [Subj–N] saw [Pred–V] some [Det– colorful [Mod– leaves.

Quant] Adj] [Comp(DO)–NP]

He [Subj–N] always [Comp– raises [Pred–V] his hand before me.

Adv] [Comp(DO)–NP] [Adjunct–PP]

Charlie [Subj–N] very quietly told [Pred–V] me [Comp(IO)– the answer.

[Comp–AdvP] N] [Comp(DO)–NP]

The boy [Subj– who shouted is sitting [Pred– next to you.

NP] / [Subj– [Comp–RelCls] VP] [Adjunct–PP]
NP(Det+N)]

Some of the were annoyed by Charlie's behavior. [Adjunct–PP]

boys [Subj–NP] [Pred–VP] or
or [Subj– [Pred–VP(Pasv)]
NP(Quant+PP)]

Adjective (Adj)

Complement–NP (IO) is an indirect object

Complement–NP (DO) is a direct object

Mod — modifier

Quant — quantity

Rel Cls — relative clause / modifying clause to a noun

Subject / Predicate Diagrams

Other Terms

TERM EXAMPLE

Head (word function) refers to the primary word in a phrase; it is called "head" because of
(1) its primary (initial) position in the phrase, or (2) its primary role
(meaning) in the phrase. See Phrase.

Complement (word function)
Adj (adjective) Adv (adverb) N
(noun); NP (noun phrase); PP
(prepositional phrase); V (verb)
PRED (function: predicate)
consists of a verb, verb group
refers to a word, phrase, or clause that is required to complete
another element in the clause. Complements occur with a number of
word categories. See Complement.
A complement may be be positioned after the element it completes,
post-position:
He read the book. (The predicate has a noun phrase as its
complement)
He is looking over the book. (PRED has a NP as its complement)
He referred to the news report. (PRED has a PP as its
complement)
He fell on the stairs. (PRED has a PP as its complement)
The fact that he is here is a miracle. (NP has a clause as its
complement)
Jill went in place of me. (PP has a PP as its complement)

A complement may also be positioned before the element it

completes, pre-position:
They divided the money fairly evenly. (Adv has an Adv as its
complement)
They placed me exactly in the middle. (PP has an Adv as its
complement)
He's a criminal lawyer. "dishonest". (NP has an Adj as its
complement)
 He's a criminal lawyer "lawyer for criminal law" (NP has a N as its
complement) See Nouns as Modifiers: range of meaning.

Coordinator (word function) He doesn't know what to do, nor do I. (for, and, nor, but, or, yet)
He walks foggy weather, but I only walk when it's sunny.

Modifier (word function)
refers to a word or phrase that changes or adds information about:
the intrinsic quality of a noun (brown leaves); the manner, degree,
frequency of an verb (float softly); the limitation of a prepositional
phrase (exactly in the middle); the focus of a word (only when I say
so); the intensity of a manner or frequency adverb (quite often
shouts); and so on. See Phrase or Modifiers to Nouns.

Nominals (word category)
is an intermediary category between Noun and Noun Phrase: N
leaves; Nominal colorful leaves; NP the colorful leaves. This term is
often seen in diagramming and it refers to sub-groupings of
modifiers and complements within a noun phrase. See diagram
above in this section.

► Show Grammar Notes and Sources

Grammar-Quizzes › Clauses › Clause Structure › Function vs. Category

Julie Sevastopoulos (contact) — ESL / ELL / TEFL — English Grammar Reference / Resource – Practices &

Exercises – Palo Alto, California USA — 10 Nov 2022

Grammar Quizzes by Julie Sevastopoulos is licensed for use under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International.