Owen—Hybrid Parts of Speech. 
231 
verbal forms 81 to thooe which are unassertive. Choice, accord- 
ingly, once affected between the presence and the absence of 
belief in thought-to-be-expressed, the correspondent use of as¬ 
sertive or unassertive verbal forms is a linguistic corollary. 
That is, the case is parallel to that exhibited by “statue” and 
“torso,” of which the latter stands for less than does the former 
—of which accordingly that one must be employed, which 
more correctly indicates the mental content. 
Doubtless, however, if the speaker recognizes in advance the 
advantages and disadvantages attending possible means of ex¬ 
pression, he may, for the sake of rhythm or rhyme or euphony 
or any of a dozen other reasons, first of all make choice of an 
assertive or an unassertive verbal form. In such a case, in 
the particular of containing or not containing belief, the con¬ 
tent of thought would be the corollary of that choice. Such 
Initial choice of verbal form is however obviously exceptional— 
and indeed abnormal—implying, as it does, an obedience to 
the injunction “Think what you say,” instead of the traditional 
injunction “Say what you think.” Moreover, even when thei 
content of thought has been determined thus, it no less in its 
turn determines again the use of assertive or unassertive verbal 
forms. For obviously, whatever be, for instance, the motive 
that has led me to adopt for expression the judgment expressed 
by “I want my dinner,” I am not linguistically free to use the 
expression “me to want my dinner.” 
Accordingly, neglecting such procedure, and centering atten¬ 
tion on the determination of verbal form by pre-established con¬ 
tent of thought, I wish to emphasize the effectiveness of such 
determination. To illustrate, suppose I wish that, through 
your agency, my table stand a little nearer to my chair. The 
act by which you carry out my wish, I shall conceive as caus- 
8i That non-verbal forms may also be employed, is obvious, but ir¬ 
relevant to the matter in hand. Thus, for instance, instead of the un¬ 
assertive verbal relation-namer used in “the trees surrounding the 
house”, I may substitute the also unassertive prepositional relation- 
namer used in “the trees around the house,” the relation being in 
either case approximately that of circumference to center. 
