ABSTRACT

The majority of descriptions of human activities contain explicit or implicit evaluations. Overt evaluations lie in all directly evaluative words and in words used in an evaluative sense; less obvious evaluations depend on context. Take what can be a purely factual description: ‘She arrived at nine o’clock.’ Now if those who heard or read this had been aware that ‘she’ had been expected at half past eight the phrase would carry disapprobation; it would carry even stronger disapprobation if it were known that she had promised to arrive at half past eight. Thus, though none of the words are even partly evaluative, the context can make the description evaluative.