In file class.php:
--------------------------------------------------------
<?php

class myclass
{
  require( $DOCUMENT_ROOT . "/methods.inc.php" );
}

$myinstance = new myclass;
$myinstance->method();
?>
--------------------------------------------------------

In file methods.inc.php:
--------------------------------------------------------
<?php
function method()
{
  print "hi";
}
?>
--------------------------------------------------------

Accessing class.php returns the following error:
Parse error:  parse error, expecting `T_OLD_FUNCTION' or `T_FUNCTION' or `T_VAR' or `'}'' in class.php on line 5

Surely this should work?