Syntactic Function
Noun phrases typically bear argument functions. That is, the syntactic functions that they fulfill are those of the arguments of the main clause predicate, particularly those of subject, object and predicative expression. They also function as arguments in such constructs as participial phrases and prepositional phrases. For example:
-
- For us the news is a concern.
-
- Have you heard the news?
-
- That is the news.
-
- They are talking about the news.
-
- The man reading the news is very tall.
Sometimes a noun phrase can also function as an adjunct of the main clause predicate, thus taking on an adverbial function, e.g.
-
- Most days I read the newspaper.
-
- She has been studying all night.
Read more about this topic: Noun Phrase
Famous quotes containing the words syntactic and/or function:
“The syntactic component of a grammar must specify, for each sentence, a deep structure that determines its semantic interpretation and a surface structure that determines its phonetic interpretation.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“The uses of travel are occasional, and short; but the best fruit it finds, when it finds it, is conversation; and this is a main function of life.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)