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3. have a first-person agent,
4. refer to a specific event.
Eg.:
a. I promise to come tomorrow.
b. I swear he is right.
c. We apologize for these inconveniences.
d. We inform you that the meeting has been cancelled.

Not all verbs are VPs. For example, know is not a PV because the PVs meet the
following criteria:
1. a PV describes a voluntary act (one can’t choose to know or not know smth),
2. a PV describes an act that can only be performed with words (one can know smth
without saying s/he knows it),
3. a PV can be used with the performative indicator hereby
An utterance that contains a PV (used in its performative sense) is called an explicit
performative; an utterance that does not contain a PV (used in its performative sense) is
called a nonexplicit/ implicit performative.
One way to think about the speech acts being performed via utterances is to
assume that underlying every utterance (U) there is a clause, similar to [6] presented
earlier, containing a performative verb (VP) which makes the illocutionary force explicit.
This is known as the performative hypothesis and the basic format of the underlying clause
is shown in [10].
[10] I (hereby) Vp you (that) U
In this clause, the subject must be first person singular ('I'), followed by the adverb
'hereby', indicating that the utterance 'counts as' an action by being uttered. There is also a
perform-ative verb (Vp) in the present tense and an indirect object in second person
singular ('you'). This underlying clause will always make explicit, as in [11b. ] and [12b. ],
what, in utterances such as [11а. ] and [12a. ], is implicit.
[ІІ] a. Clean up this mess!
b. I hereby order you that you clean up this mess.
[12] a. The work was done by Elaine and myself.
b. I hereby tell you that the work was done by Elaine and myself.
Examples like [11b. ] and [12b. ] (normally without 'hereby'), are used by speakers
as explicit performatives. Examples like [11a. ] and [12a. ] are implicit performatives,
sometimes called primary performatives.
The advantage of this type of analysis is that it makes clear just what elements are
involved in the production and interpretation of utterances. In syntax, a reflexive pronoun
(like 'myself in [12]) requires the occurrence of an antecedent (in this case 'I') within the
same sentence structure. The explicit performative in [12b. ] provides the 'I' element.
Similarly, when you say to someone, 'Do it yourself!', the reflexive in yourself is made
possible by the antecedent 'you' in the explicit version ('I order you that you do it yourself).
Another advantage is to show that some adverbs such as 'honestly', or adverbial clauses
such as 'because I may be late', as shown in [13], naturally attach to the explicit
performative clause rather than the implicit version.
[13] a. Honestly, he's a scoundrel.
b. What time is it, because I may be late?