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14

that conveys no information, because I do not know who Thomas J. Studley is.
I pick up a piece of paper and read upon it "Theodore Roosevelt is energetic", that does convey a definite idea.
If now we compare this case with the case of the man standing at the window and exclaiming "Snowing!" we shall learn something more about assertion.
This sentence "Theodore Roosevelt is energetic," written on a stray scrap of paper, no doubt has a meaning, that us, is either true or false.
But after all it is not an assertion.
Perhaps the person who wrote it was merely practising his hand-writing, and never dreamed of making himself responsible for so extraordinary an allegation.
Just so a man might write his name a hundred times to practise his signature.
But if he were to write it on the back of a promissary note, the case might be different.

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