Difficulties in Distinguishing Verbal and Adjectival Functions of Verbs

A Case Study in Notes on Financial Statements

Abstract

This article discusses the difficulties of students in distinguishing verbs that have a pure verb function and those that have an adjective function in Notes on Financial Statements (NoFS). This study aims to identify the types and positions of verbs that have an adjective function. The writer adopted the descriptive qualitative research method as used in this study with content analysis in the following stages: sorting out verbs that function both as verbs and adjectives in clauses to find out the types; classifying the adjective phrases found; finding out the positions of verb and adjective phrases in clauses. The results showed that most of the verbs functioning as verbs are in their normal position, while verbs functioning as adjectives are present and past participles. Their position is attributable to noun phrases.