{"id":193,"date":"2014-06-30T13:34:27","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T03:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/?p=193"},"modified":"2016-11-21T13:34:53","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T02:34:53","slug":"functional-shifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/journal\/notes\/functional-shifts\/","title":{"rendered":"Functional shifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A functional shift<\/em> is a shift in the use of a word from one grammatical function to another, such as when a noun becomes a verb. This process is nothing new. In fact, Shakespeare used the functional shift quite often in his plays, which is one of the many reasons why so many of his sayings and phrases are still widely used.<\/p>\n

While some grammarians can’t abide the verbing<\/em> of nouns and adjectives, an even greater number of English users believe it is one of the best things about English, that we can use words so flexibly to express ourselves and be easily understood. It often also allows us to use fewer words, which is perfect for Twitter!<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of nouns that also serve as verbs.<\/p>\n

\n the journey\u2014to journey<\/em><\/p>\n

the tower\u2014to tower over<\/em><\/p>\n

the father\u2014to father<\/em><\/p>\n

the commute\u2014to commute<\/em><\/p>\n

the source\u2014to source<\/em><\/p>\n

the cushion\u2014to cushion<\/em><\/p>\n

the drink\u2014to drink<\/em><\/p>\n

Google\u2014to google<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some adjectives have also made the shift.<\/p>\n

\n single\u2014to single out<\/em><\/p>\n

smooth\u2014to smooth out<\/em><\/p>\n

clean\u2014to clean up<\/em><\/p>\n

narrow\u2014to narrow down<\/em><\/p>\n

tame\u2014to tame<\/em><\/p>\n

perfect\u2014to perfect<\/em><\/p>\n

right\u2014to right<\/em><\/p>\n

second\u2014to second<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, the functional shift is not exclusive to nouns, verbs and adjectives. The word like<\/em> has also undergone a shift, being widely used outside its original prepositional duties, becoming quickly embraced as a conjunction. If you open a dictionary (if you still have one lying around your house somewhere gathering dust), I guarantee you will see at least one word per page that has multiple grammatical uses. English has always been this way and I hope it remains so.<\/p>\n

But before you start grabbing any and every noun you can and thrusting them into action, take note that overusing the functional shift can often make your sentences sound clunky. Just remember\u2014the functional shift came into being to make expressing ourselves easier<\/em> not harder!<\/p>\n

Happy writing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When nouns become verbs, magic happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}