Exercise I. Development

I have in mind an animal. I wish to make you think of it. In what ways might I do this? Let me use a word, dog.

I have in mind an action. I will represent it by the word running. I am thinking of the action as being performed by the dog. I can show this to you in many ways.

1. The dog is running.

2. The running dog.

3. The dog runs.

4. The dog was running.

5. The dog running.

6. The running of the dog.

7. The dog has been running.

I have in mind a quality of the same dog. The word gentle represents it. Think of as many groups of words as you can that show that gentleness is a quality of the dog. We will write these groups of words on the blackboard.

I am thinking of a condition of the dog. The word sick represents it. Show in as many ways as you can that sickness is a condition of the dog. We will write down these groups of words also.

I am thinking of the place of the dog. These words, behind the barn, represent it. Show the relation between the dog and the barn by as many different groups of words as you can.

I am thinking of the class to which the clog belongs. Show in as many ways as you can that it belongs to the class of spaniels.

(1) The dog is a spaniel. (2) The dog, a spaniel.

We have now before us fifteen or more groups of words. In what respect are they all alike? (They all show something about the dog).

Let us now look more carefully at the first seven expressions. Each shows something, an action, of the dog. But they do not all do this in the same way. Some are sentences and some are not. See if you can select the sentences.

You should have chosen the first, third, fourth, and seventh expressions. They assert (declare, state, affirm, predicate) that the action is performed by the dog. You would use these groups of words if you thought your hearer did not know the fact.

You should see, too, that the second, fifth, and sixth are not sentences. They assume (take for granted) that the act is performed by the dog. You would use them if you thought the hearer already knew the fact and you wanted merely to call it to his mind before going on to tell him something new.

Examine the other groups of words about the dog and decide which ones assert something about the dog and so are sentences, and which ones merely assume, or take something for granted.

Exercise 2

1. Think of the first president of the United States. By what word or group of words can you represent him? Think of one of his qualities. Represent this by a word. Assert this quality about the man. Assume it.

2. Think of some other person. Represent this person by some word or group of words. Think of some class to which the person belongs. First assert and then assume the classification of the person.

3. Assert (1) the condition of a child, (2) the material of a dress, (3) an action of fishes, (4) a quality of an apple.

4. First assert and then assume the place of a letter.

5. A Declarative Sentence is a group of words that asserts something about something else.