 In order to understand what it was that Ross proposed and that Hart found so objectionable, it is best to begin with the opening pages of On Law and Justice. There, Ross draws a distinction between two kinds of linguistic meaning: expressive and representative. According to Ross, all linguistic utterances, oral or written, have expressive meaning (i.e., express something); but only some have representative meaning, i.e., represent states of affairs in the world. Here Ross contrasts an utterance like “my father is dead,” which has expressive and representative meaning, with utterances like “ouch!” and “shut the door,” which have expressive meaning only. Ross calls utterances with representative meaning “assertions.” Utterances without representative meaning he calls either “exclamations” or “directives”—the former if they are not intended to exert influence on others (as in the case of a reflexive cry of “ouch!”), the latter if they are intended to exert influence (as in the case of “shut the door”) (1959, pp. 6–8).