 Sterken argues that the best explanation of why the truth conditions of generics vary across context in this way and others is that Gen is an indexical. In terms of logical form, this means that Gen is composed of two free variables: one representing quantificational force and one representing lexical restriction. Like all indexicals, Gen has what Kaplan (1989) calls a character, a function from contexts of utterance to the semantic values. Given a context of utterance, the character of Gen assigns semantic values to the free variables, resulting in the generic expression having as its content a particular generalization. The resulting view is intended to capture the various ways the truth conditions of a generic depend not only on the kind in question and the property being predicated, but also on the wider context of utterance.