| 
Actor | 
Process: material | 
Goal | 
congruent | |
| 
he | 
kissed | 
his sister | ||
| 
he | 
gave | 
his sister | 
a kiss | 
metaphorical | 
| 
Actor | 
Process: material | 
Recipient | 
Goal | 
Because grammatical metaphor is a junctional construct, the metaphorical expression construes 'his sister' both as the Goal and as the Recipient of the Process 'kiss', and construes 'kiss' both as Process and as gift (Goal: the Medium of giving).
The advantages of the metaphorical construal of a process as a participant include:
- it can be sub-classified, as in he gave his sister a perfunctory and very reluctant kiss,
- it can be given thematic status in a message, and
- it can be given modal responsibility in a proposition.
 
