 There are two main uses of the predicate ‘is a fact’. On one of them, the predicate is rigid (necessarily, if something is a fact, then it cannot fail to be a fact). On that use, and given the assumption that there are contingent facts, it is possible that something be a fact without existing (obtaining). On the second use, nothing can be a fact unless it exists, and so on the assumption that there are contingent facts, the predicate is non-rigid. Some call facts in the first sense states of affairs or situations, reserving the word ‘fact’ to mean what ‘obtaining state of affairs’ or ‘actual situation’ mean. Throughout this section we shall use ‘fact’ in the first sense.