How do you use the word function in a sentence

Asked by: Cornelius Mante

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the kind of action or activity proper to a person, thing, or institution; the purpose for which something is designed or exists; role.

Is function singular or plural?

The plural form of function is functions.

What is the main meaning of function?

Noun. function, office, duty, province mean the acts or operations expected of a person or thing. function implies a definite end or purpose or a particular kind of work.

How do you use the word function in a sentence?

Function words are the words we use to make our sentences grammatically correct. Pronouns, determiners, and prepositions, and auxiliary verbs are examples of function words. … In addition, sometimes we do things to deliberately push function words into the background… almost the opposite of stressing.

What is function words example?

Function words include determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, modals, qualifiers, and question words. … In the sentence, «The sly brown fox jumped gracefully over the lazy dog and cat,» the content words are: fox, dog, and cat (nouns) sly, brown, and lazy (adjectives)

41 related questions found

English Sentences Focusing on Words and Their Word Families The Word “Function” in Example Sentences Page 1

1. [S] [T] We can’t function like this. (
2. [S] [T] I can’t function without you. (
3. [S] [T] I’m unable to function alone. (
4. [S] [T] The function of the heart is to pump blood. (

What are the six functions of a noun?

Terms in this set (6)

• Object of the Preposition. A noun/pronoun that completes a preposition.
• Indirect Object. A noun/pronoun that follows an action verb and precedes a direct object.
• Subject. A noun/pronoun.
• Direct Object.
• Appositive/Appositive phrase.
• Predicate Nominate.

What are nouns with examples?

Examples are animal, sunlight, and happiness. A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing; it usually begins with a capital letter: Abraham Lincoln, Argentina, and World War I are all proper nouns. A collective noun is a noun that names a group of people or things, such as flock or squad.

What are the different functions of noun?

Functions of Nouns

• Subject (S) – a noun or pronoun partnered with a predicate verb.
• Object of Preposition (OP) – a noun or pronoun answering “whom” or “what” after a preposition in a a prepositional phrase.
• Direct Object (DO) – a noun or pronoun answering “whom” or “what” after an action verb.

What is the grammatical function of a noun?

A noun is a word that represents a person, a place, or a thing. A thing in this definition can be a physical entity or it can be an abstract idea. A noun may be used as a subject of a sentence, as a direct object, as an indirect object, or it may be used as the object of a preposition.

What are the forms of noun?

Types and forms of nouns – thesaurus

• ablative. noun.
• abstract noun. noun.
• collective noun. noun.
• common noun. noun.
• concrete noun. noun.
• countable noun. noun.
• direct object. noun.
• genitive. noun.

What type of noun is someone?

pronoun. some person; somebody.

What are the 4 functions of a sentence?

It answers the question: “Why has this been said?” The four basic sentence functions in the world’s languages include the declarative, interrogative, exclamative, and the imperative. These correspond to a statement, question, exclamation, and command respectively.

What is an example of the word function?

Function words include determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, modals, qualifiers, and question words. Content words are words with specific meanings, such as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and main verbs (those without helping verbs.) sly, brown, and lazy (adjectives)

How do you identify a function in a sentence?

There are four sentence functions in English: declarative, exclamatory, interrogative, and imperative.

1. Declarative sentences state an idea.
2. Exclamatory sentences show strong emotions.
3. Interrogative sentences ask a question.
4. Imperative sentences give orders or directions, and so end with a period or an exclamation mark.

WHAT IS function and example?

A function can then be defined as a set of ordered pairs: Example: {(2,4), (3,5), (7,3)} is a function that says. “2 is related to 4”, “3 is related to 5” and “7 is related 3”. Also, notice that: the domain is {2,3,7} (the input values)

What is a question sentence?

The basic function (job) of an interrogative sentence is to ask a direct question. It asks us something or requests information (as opposed to a statement which tells us something or gives information). Interrogative sentences require an answer.

What’s a good question to ask?

71 Good Questions To Ask Your Best Friends

1. What embarrasses you the most and/or what’s been your most embarrassing moment?
2. Who do you look up to the most, and what qualities do you love about that person?
3. What would be your perfect day?
4. What’s your biggest fear?
5. How do you like to be comforted when you’re sad or upset?

What 5 questions should you never ask a girl?

Never ask a 5 word question, to someone you’re dating, that you don’t want the answer to. How many partners you had? Can you get me pregnant? Have you ever killed anyone?

What is a question Year 1?

Questions are first taught during Year 1, when a child is learning the difference between ‘yelling’ (command), ‘telling’ (statement) and ‘asking’ sentences (questions). As part of the Year 2 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling SATs, children will also be expected to add the appropriate punctuation to a sentence.

What is question and answer?

uncountable noun [oft NOUN noun] Q & A is a situation in which a person or group of people asks questions and another person or group of people answers them. Q & A is short for ‘question and answer’. a Q & A session with a prominent politician.

What is a question that has no answer?

A rhetorical question is one for which the questioner does not expect a direct answer: in many cases it may be intended to start a discourse, or as a means of displaying or emphasize the speaker’s or author’s opinion on a topic.

How do you know if its a question?

These terms might be unfamiliar, but you may know this punctuation mark by its more common name: the question mark. The question mark has a very simple function in writing—it indicates a question. If a sentence ends with a question mark, then it is asking a question, just as the name suggests.

Is could a question?

When making general polite suggestions or asking a question, both could and can are possible (“Excuse me, can/could you tell me what time it is?”). Would can also be used to ask polite questions (“Would you mind if I had another cup of tea?”), or to wish for something (“I wish she would write a book.”).

The word ‘function’ is both a verb and a noun.

Example sentences:

This box can function as a table until the moving van arrives. (verb)

One function of cooking is to kill any harmful microbes. (noun)

Additional examples:

I’m not going to function well in this community. (verb)

In order to FUNCTION properly, a clock cannot be missing any gears or parts. (verb)

In English grammar, a function word is a word that expresses a grammatical or structural relationship with other words in a sentence.

In contrast to a content word, a function word has little or no meaningful content. Nonetheless, as Ammon Shea points out, «the fact that a word does not have a readily identifiable meaning does not mean that it serves no purpose.»

Function words are also known as:

• structure words
• grammatical words
• grammatical functors
• grammatical morphemes
• function morphemes
• form words
• empty words

According to James Pennebaker, «function words account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of your vocabulary but make up almost 60 percent of the words you use.»

Content Words vs. Function Words

Function words include determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, modals, qualifiers, and question words. Content words are words with specific meanings, such as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and main verbs (those without helping verbs.) In the sentence, «The sly brown fox jumped gracefully over the lazy dog and cat,» the content words are:

• fox, dog, and cat (nouns)
• sly, brown, and lazy (adjectives)
• gracefully (adverb)
• jumped (main verb)

Function words include:

• the (determiner)
• over (preposition)
• and (conjunction)

Even though the function words don’t have concrete meanings, sentences would make a lot less sense without them.

Determiners

Determiners are words such as articles (the, a), possessive pronouns (their, your), quantifiers (much), demonstratives (that, those), and numbers. They function as adjectives to modify nouns and go in front of a noun to show the reader whether the noun is specific or general, such as in «that coat» (specific) vs. «a coat» (general). 

• Articles: a, an, the
• Demonstratives: that, this, those, these
• Possessive pronouns: my, your, their, our, ours, whose, his, hers, its, which 
• Quantifiers: some, both, most, many, a few, a lot of, any, much, a little, enough, several, none, all

Conjunctions

Conjunctions connect parts of a sentence, such as items in a list, two separate sentences, or clauses and phrases to a sentence. In the previous sentence, the conjunctions are or and and.

• Conjunctions: and, but, for, yet, neither, or, so, when, although, however, as, because, before 

Prepositions

Prepositions begin prepositional phrases, which contain nouns and other modifiers. Prepositions function to give more information about nouns. In the phrase «the river that flows through the woods.» The prepositional phrase is «through the woods,» and the preposition is «through.»

• Prepositions: in, of, between, on, with, by, at, without, through, over, across, around, into, within

Pronouns

Pronouns are words that stand in for nouns. Their antecedent needs to be clear, or your reader will be confused. Take «It’s so difficult» as an example. Without context, the reader has no idea what «it» refers to. In context, «Oh my gosh, this grammar lesson,» he said. «It’s so difficult,» the reader easily knows that it refers to the lesson, which is its noun antecedent.

• Pronouns: she, they, he, it, him, her, you, me, anybody, somebody, someone, anyone

Auxiliary Verbs

Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs. They pair with a main verb to change tense, such as when you want to express something in present continuous tense (I am walking), past perfect tense (I had walked), or future tense (I am going to walk there). 

• Auxiliary verbs: be, is, am, are, have, has, do, does, did, get, got, was, were

Modals

Modal verbs express condition or possibility. It’s not certain that something is going to happen, but it might. For example, in «If I could have gone with you, I would have,» modal verbs include could and would.

• Modals: may, might, can, could, will, would, shall, should

Qualifiers

Qualifiers function like adverbs and show the degree of an adjective or verb, but they have no real meaning themselves. In the sample sentence, «I thought that somewhat new dish was pretty darn delicious,» the qualifiers are somewhat and pretty.

• Qualifiers: very, really, quite, somewhat, rather, too, pretty (much)

Question Words

It’s easy to guess what function that question words have in English. Besides forming questions, they can also appear in statements, such as in «I don’t know how in the world that happened,» where the question word is how.

• Question words: how, where, what, when, why, who

Sources

• Shea, Ammon Shea. «Bad English.» TarcherPerigee, 2014, New York.
• Pennebaker, James. «The Secret Life of Pronouns.» Bloomsbury Press, 2011, New York.

Synonym: act, ceremony, exercise, gathering, operate, perform, rite, ritual, serve, service, work. Similar words: functional, and function, malfunction, sanction, distinction, action, section, auction. Meaning: [‘fʌŋkʃn]  n. 1. a mathematical relation such that each element of one set is associated with at least one element of another set 2. what something is used for 3. the actions and activities assigned to or required or expected of a person or group 4. a relation such that one thing is dependent on another 5. a formal or official social gathering or ceremony 6. a vaguely specified social event 7. a set sequence of steps, part of larger computer program. v. 1. perform as expected when applied 2. serve a purpose, role, or function 3. perform duties attached to a particular office or place or function.