Abstract
(1) A sentence expressing a command or wish cannot at the same time be an assertion. ‘I order you to do this’, ‘I want this to happen’, are either assertions about ordering or wishing, or expressions of orders or wishes. (Mostly one says ‘I order...’ even in cases of actual Orders rather than reports about orders. These are sentences of command that look like assertions.) Likewise, the expression ‘I ask whether you are free today’ is a question or an assertion, but not both at once. One cannot order that something was, is or is going to be so. For an order refers to an action that is to be carried out: something that ought to be.
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© 1973 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Schächter, J. (1973). Kinds of Sentence. In: Prolegomena to a Critical Grammar. Vienna Circle Collection, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2555-3_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2555-3_7
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