linguisticsgirl.com: ... In my mind, grammatical *form**(what a word looks like) is clearly separate from grammatical function (what a word does). From ODO: 2.1. Any of the ways in which a word may be spelled, pronounced, or inflected 4.2. [count noun] A set order of words; a formula:
When Michael J. Fox played 'Johnny B. Goode' as Marty McFly in 'Back to the Future' in 1985, he was just aping Chuck Berry's classic fretwork for the camera. (Along with some Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and Pete Townsend guitar moves thrown in for good measure.) Today, Fox can really play the song.
O'Neal, whose role as cocaine dealer Youngblood Priest in the 1972 film Superfly epitomized the so-called ... Ron O'Neal, whose role as a fashionable and fearless drug dealer in the 1972 blaxploitation film Superfly made him a cult hero among many African Americans, has died. He was 66. Mr. O'Neal, who suffered from pancreatic cancer, died Wednesday in Los Angeles.