Using "get" inside a function

Hi - 

I am trying to use "get" inside a function in order to make decisions based on the properties of the variable I've passed to the function.  I've used LISP as well as various versions of Macsyma/Maxima in the dim and distant past, but I've just started to use it again recently.  I'm using version 5.23.2 of XMaxima in Windows.  I am doing the following at the command line :

    g_ll:matrix([-1,0,0,0],[0,A^2/(1-K*r^2),0,0],[0,0,A^2*r^2,0],[0,0,0,A^2*r^2*sin(theta)^2]);
    put(' g_ll,' Trank2LL,' Trank);

NOTE : I've intentionally put spaces after every ' in this email so that they can be seen (the ' is hard to see as 'T on my screen).  My actual code has no spaces.

My function is currently (stripped down for testing, and to match the manual's example) : 

    TensorTrace (T) := 
    block
      (
      [temp],
      temp:get(' T,' Trank)
      )$

And the function call is : TensorTrace(g_ll);



My problem is this : WITH a ' before the T (as shown), the debugger says that T is a 4x4 matrix with the correct terms, but T only has the properties [value], whereas (also within the debugger) g_ll has the properties [value, [user properties, Trank]].  

And WITHOUT a ' before the T, when I call the function I get a "get: argument must be a symbol or a string; found: errexp1" error message. But the example on (Adobe's) page 514 of the manual under get shows : 
        get(expr,'type) 
where expr is the variable passed to the function!

I'm so confused!  Is there some other option besides ' T and T ?  Why doesn't it work without a ' like the example in the manual?

Thanks in advance to all who reply.
Bruce Linnell, PhD