Hi. I got on your mailing list as the result of a mistake someone made. Please remove my email address from the list entitled: ATEG@@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU. Thank you. Phil Wade Epic Data International Phone (913) 481-6838 FAX (913) 393-3932 Email [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: David D Mulroy [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2000 11:45 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: What is a sentence? Hello, everyone. The list has been quiet lately. I had an exchange with Ed Vavra that I thought was interesting. It concerned defining the sentence. I would really appreciate a sampling of your views. My idea is based on Aristotle, who connects sentences with the notions of truth and falsity in his essay, On Interpretation, without offering a complete definition of a sentence. What I proposed to Ed was that a declarative sentence is an utterance that has the formal qualities of utterances that can be classified as true or false. I don't mean that every sentence can itself be classified as true or false, since it is easy to come up with counterexamples, e.g., "This sentence is false." What I am saying is that every declarative sentence has formal qualities that can be realized in such a way as to produce true or false statements. Formally, <"this sentence is false"> consists of a noun phrase, a linking verb, and an adjective. Obviously, that format can make any number of true or false statements, e.g., "This patient is dead." Is it true that every correctly formed declarative sentence has such a format, one that is at least potentially productive of true or false statements, while no non-sentence does? I would think that questions or commands could be explained as variations or transformations of declarative sentences. I don't think that elliptical sentences like <"In the refrigerator."> as an answer to a question like <"Where is the cheese?"> are really a problem, since no one would suggest that <in the refrigerator> is a correctly formed sentence all by itself. Ed seemed to accept this definition but had misgivings about its use in teaching grammar to younger students. I would be most interested in your thoughts. I hope that everyone's semester is off to a good start! David