 Speech act theory is complicated and it is not easy to offer a neutral account of the typology or interpretation of speech acts. But, intuitively, an utterance (locutionary act) of the sentence ‘The cops are coming’ can be an assertion, a warning, or an expression of relief. ‘I’m sorry you were raised so badly’ can be an assertion or an apology. ‘You want to cook dinner’ can function as a request or as an assertion. ‘Can you pick me up later?’ can function as a request or a question or both. And these are just examples of speech acts that are conventionally tied to these sentence forms. Many, if not all, sentences can be used in multiple ways.