Functional Grammar question

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inproxima

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Hi
In the statement "one dollar is equal to one hundred cents," I understand that one dollar is a participant, is is the process, and equal is the other participant (and the attribute as the process is relational). I can't figure out what to one hundred cents is. circumstance, or another participant?
Can anyone please help?
 

Tdol

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If equal is a participant, then the rest is part of it IMO. I don't see how it would be a circumstance because the sentence doesn't work without it. If you test by asking who or what, then the answer is the whole phrase. However, equal is an adjective and not the object of the verb in conventional terms. I must say I am not familiar with this system and have just read a few articles on it a while back.
 

inproxima

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If equal is a participant, then the rest is part of it IMO. I don't see how it would be a circumstance because the sentence doesn't work without it. If you test by asking who or what, then the answer is the whole phrase. However, equal is an adjective and not the object of the verb in conventional terms. I must say I am not familiar with this system and have just read a few articles on it a while back.

Hi,
Thank you for the reply. I did some more digging, and it seems that the whole phrase "equal to one hundred cents" is a nominal group with an Epithet as head. If this is the case, then the whole phrase could be a participant. The problem is that I don't know if phrases can be participants in functional grammar.
 

Tdol

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They can- you could have a participant in theory consisting of hundreds of words.
 
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