grammatical subject is the person who applies the stimulus (whip, cut), and a class of verbs of which the grammatical subject may be either stimulus or person who applies it (prick, sting). Such verbs stand for processes; and if we include verbs which stand for states we can distinguish many other categories by what classes of substantives can play the role of grammatical subject.

It is not justifiable to use the terms subject and object as reference points of international syntax unless we can define them without recourse to grammatical tricks peculiar to particular languages. Happily, as Ogden has seen, we can sidestep the difficulty by keeping down the number of verb-equivalents; and it is the object of this chapter to clarify the rules of word-order given on p. 35 by making the meaning of subject and object explicit with reference to each verboid. Interglossa has 20 verboids of which one, ge, is an operative particle based on gene (473), and one eque (469) stands for the so-called verb be when be links what follows with the subject and an identity or a specification of the class to which it belongs (Roosevelt is the right man; Victoria was then Queen of England; elephants are mammals). Otherwise habe (have) does the work of be; and is the universal copula connecting subject (i.e. topic) and its attribute (he has strength = he is strong).

We have already examined the meaning of habe (474), gene (473) and date (466) in outline. Two operators, (477) (481) perde (lose) and tracte . . . apo (take . . . away), in combination with an amplifier respectively do the work of gene and date in combination with its opposite. We have seen that date thermo and gene thermo respectively mean to heat or warm in a transitive (confer heat on) and intransitive or reflexive (get heat) sense. Similarly tracte thermo apo (take heat away from) and perde thermo (lose heat) respectively mean to cool in a transitive or intransitive (reflexive) sense. Negative opposites such as no-thermo also have their own type of comparison. Thus we have thermo—major thermo (hot—hotter) and no-thermo—minor thermo (cool—cooler). From one amplifier we can thus build up a double series of verbal and adjectival forms; such as: