Functions are the purposes for which you use English. Examples: suggesting, inviting, disagreeing, expressing interest. Exponents are the way you express functions. Examples: suggesting: Shall we...? Let’s... Why don’t we...? A course with a functional approach is a sequence of functions and their exponents. It does not present grammar as a graded sequence, as in the [structural-situational approach]. This article is a . You can help My English Wiki by expanding it.