Max,
    I'm glad you joined in the discussion, but you seem
to have made my point. Although you claim that the
form/function distinction is important to understanding
grammar, you discussed the three sentences, from
what I can see, entirely in terms of function. Your
explanation included more detail than I think most
students need (or want), but you agree that IS
PLAYING is the main verb in the first sentence and
that in the second, ENJOYS  is the main verb and
PLAYING is the direct object. In the third sentence, my
students would explain PLAYING as a gerundive
modifying "Bob", rather than as a complement to a
predicate noun (complement to a predicate noun???)
 
     You seem to be implying that there is something
else that they need to know, but that they need not
apply. Will that not simply add to their confusion? You
yourself note that it will take a "long explanation"?
What bothers me is that most students are graduating
from high school unable to identify a verb [period].
Why do they need concepts such as tense, mood,
number, etc. if they can't isolate a verb in the first
place?
Ed
 
>>> "James M. Dubinsky" <[log in to unmask]>
01/27/98 10:15pm >>>
This message was originally submitted by
[log in to unmask] to the ATEG in
response to a posting by  Ed Vavra
([log in to unmask]  to the
 
>Bob Yates wrote:
>Let me give an example of why the form/function
>distinction is important.
>
>One defines a verb as a word that shows action.
And,
>the "main verb" of a sentence is what the "subject" is
>doing or has done?
>
>        So what is the "main verb" of the following
>sentences?
>
>        Bob is playing on the computer.
>        Bob enjoys playing on the computer.
>        Bob is happy playing on the computer.
>
>Playing is the most "action" word in all three, right?
>
>The only way to figure out what is the "main verb" is
to
>talk about form and function.
>
>
>----------------------
>I guess I'm slow, but I don't understand the
>explanation. In all three sentences, the form of
>"playing" is identical; only the function differs. Why
>then, must one discuss the form?
 
I apologize for jumping into the middle of this
discussion.  We've recently
changed from MSMail to Eudora.  And in the
changeover, I've missed some
mail.  I'll stay our to the form/function argument (since
it would take a
long explanation).  But I will say that the difference
between form and
function is an important one--central to grammatical
analysis.  Read
Kenneth Pike and the tagmemic linguists on this
issue.
 
I don't understand the definition of main verbs in the
three senteces cited
by Bob Yates.  In the first sentence IS PLAYING is the
main verb
constituent.  PLAYING, the present participial form is is
the head of the
main verb constituent.  IS marks the present
progressive.  In the second
sentence, PLAYING is a gerund.  ENJOYS is the only
finite verb form in the
sentence.  The gerund phrase PLAYING ON THE
COMPUTER functions as the
object of the verb ENJOYS.   In the third setence, IS is
the main verb of
the sentence.  The gerund phrase PLAYING ON THE
COMPUTER functions as the
complement to the predicate noun HAPPY.
 
Again, I apologize if all this wasn't at issue.  I was
confuses about where
the argument was going.
 
Max Morenberg
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056
[log in to unmask]