  States of affairs (SOAs) are abstract, intensional entities typically signified by sentential gerundives like “Algol's being John's  pet” and “There being more than ten solar planets”. Importantly, SOAs constitute a primitive ontological category for the abstractionist; they are not defined in terms of possible worlds in  the manner that propositions are in   §1.3.  Just as some propositions are true and others are not, some SOAs are  actual and others are   not.[28]   Note, then, that to say an SOA is non-actual is not to say that it does not  actually exist. It is simply to say that it is not, in fact, a condition, or state, that the concrete world is actually in.  However, because ‘____ is actual’ is often used simply to mean ‘____ exists’, there is considerable potential for  confusion here. So, henceforth, to express that an SOA is actual we  will usually say that it obtains. 