 Hart’s approach to language was different. It may seem that he did not need to talk about language, and that his point could have been made without mentioning types of assertions, or what ‘we would say’. His argument, you might think, simply puts into the linguistic mode an argument that could be made with no mention of language: an argument that you can have an obligation without being liable to sanction. And yet, the linguistic form of the argument was important to Hart. He wanted to avoid explaining the difference between obligation and coercion in the way a  natural law  theorist might (by saying that an obligation is a kind of reason). So his focus on the use of the word ‘obligation’ is no accident. He did not point out the way we use that word as an oblique way of appealing to our shared wisdom as to what obligation is. It was actually important to him to point out how we use the word. His explanation of the normativity of law relies on the use of such words to display an attitude.