In this book Mr. Putman presents for the first time his theory of semantics or, in the vernacular, "How language works." Other theories abound. Frege, Russell, Strawson, Donnellan are some of the famous philosophers of the past who's semantic theories are in print. Until now, few of us cared which theory of semantics is correct. We know language works and we use it. But the theory presented in this book is different. It has a practical bent. Once you understand Putman's "Distinctive Semantics" from Chapter 1 of this book, you can make use of it whenever you read or write. Just how to make use of it comprises the other four chapters of his book.