Sentence function: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:36, 8 August 2022

Revision as of 06:41, 3 December 2022

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== Declarative vs. affirmative vs. positive ==

A declarative statement is not synonymous with an [[affirmative (linguistics)|affirmative]] one, nor need it be [[true]]. Declaratives may be phrased positively or negatively (assert or negate), affirm or refute a proposition (support or undermine), be honest or dishonest (speak frankly or deceive), or may be true or false (inform accurately or misinform). All qualify as declarative sentences. ''Declarative'' refers to a sentence's function or purpose, while ''affirmative'', ''positive'' and ''true'' deal with a sentence's topicality, grammatical polarity, and veracity, which is why the different terms can overlap simultaneously.

Though not as erroneous as the above misnomer, there is a clouding that can occur between the slight distinction of the affirmative, and the [[positive (linguistics)|positive]]. Although it semantically speaking comes natural that ''positive'' is the opposite of ''negative'', and therefore should be completely synonymous with ''affirmative'', grammatically speaking, once again they tend to be separate entities; depending on specificity. ''Positive'' in linguistic terms refers to the degree of the quality of an adjective or adverb, while ''affirmative'' refers to the perceived validity of the ''entire'' sentence.