Information Roles
- Agentive Role = the doer of the action (with transitive and intransitive verbs)
- Affected Role = someone or something affected by the action (with intransitive verbs)
- Identified Role = someone or something identified through the subject predictive (with linking/copular verbs)
- Characterized Role = someone or something characterized through the subject predictive (with linking/copular verbs)
- Experiencer Role = someone who has experienced a sensation, an emotion, or a thought (with transitive verbs)
(Greenbaum, 1996, p. 71-72)
Grammatical Roles
Nouns as Subjects and Subject Complements
- Subject of the Sentence
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Subject Complement/Predicate Nominative, renames the subject using a linking verb and a noun or noun phrase (aka Predicate Nominative, Predicate Noun, or Predicate Noun Subject Complement): John will be the leader. *Note: Subject Complements can also be Predicate Adjectives and Predicate Pronouns.
Nouns as Objects and Object Complements
- Direct Object of the Verb
- Indirect Object of the Verb
- Object of Preposition
- Object Complement
Nouns as Modifiers
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Appositive, renames a noun or noun phrases to add detail , immediately follows or proceeds another noun: John the leader assigned us the tasks. My favorite restaurant, John’s Burgers is closed today. *Note: Appositive can be restrictive (not set off with commas) or nonrestrictive (set off with commas).
- Adjective: car culture
- Nominative Absolute, a noun phrase that modifies the whole sentence (aka absolute construction)
- Direct Address