2) Grammatical function

= the role a word or group of words plays in the sentence, in rela° to

the other words

(113) The cost of the new road is about $2.5M.

(114) The new road is going to cost about $2.5M.

• In (113) => COST is a noun

Func° = head (noyau) of the NP ‘the coast of the new road’; the NP is
subject of the V ‘be’
• In (114) => COST is a verb
a V or VP does not have a grammatical function
 a) Subject - S
• diff. types of S :
(115) Their boss fired them.
=> active S
(116) They got fired.
=> passive S
(117) They heard/saw the demonstrators.
S ‘grasps’ P (S appréhendeur)

• Not necessarily located at the beginning of the clause:

(118) On the branch was perched the loveliest bird I had ever seen.
• The S can be a NP, an adj., an adv., a V, etc, or a whole clause:
(119) (about outdoor schooling) Being in the fresh air always makes things better.
• The S can also be…
(120) I don’t know what makes this noise.
=> … a relative pron. (‘what’ S of the V ‘make’)
(121) Who wants some tea?
=> … an interrogative pron. (‘who’ S of the V ‘want’)

• distinguish the real S from the grammatical S

(122) It’s so good to see you!
 ‘it’ = grammatical / syntactical S (occupies the role of S in the sentence)
VS ‘To see you’ = real / semantical S (To see you is so good.)
 b) Direct / indirect object complement - DOC / IOC
(COD / COI)

(123) She’s walking.

V ‘walk’ here intransitive (no OC)

(124) She’s walking the dog.

V ‘walk’ here transitive because it has an OC ; this OC is directly linked to its
V (it does not need a prep.), so ‘the dog’ is DOC of the V ‘walk’

(125) She walked right into our trap.

V ‘walk’ here transitive but OC indirectly linked to its V (it needs a prep. -
INTO), so ‘our trap’ is IOC of the V ‘walk’
• Further comments about DOCs:
⚠ Do not mix up DOC & subject complement (attribut du S) :
(126) Pixel is [an adorable cat with goofy expressions].
(https://www.pupperish.com/pixel-cat-smile)

‘an adorable cat’ is not a DOC of the V ‘be’, but the

complement of the S ‘Pixel’

⚠ a V can have two DOCs:

(127) The students showed [the bouncers] [their IDs] (to get into the bar).
=>‘the bouncers ’ =1st DOC of V ‘show’; ‘their IDs’ ’ = 2nd DOC
The V ‘show’ is ditransitive because it has 2 objects ;
Other ditransitive Vs : to give sbdy something, to send sbdy something, to pass
sbdy something, …
⚠ a V can have one DOC & one IOC:
(128) The customers paid [the waiter] [for the drinks].
‘the waiter’: DOC of V ‘pay’
‘[for] the drinks’ : IOC of V ‘pay’