A.    Read the chapter carefully and then show your grasp of “referential” and “commissive” language. Work through the test items on your own; then check your results. In the following examples mark whether the language is a. referential or b. commissive

1. ____ the kind of language often used by football coaches

2. ____ the language of Paul’s letters (according to the text)

3. ____ conveys emotion

4. ____ used to pass on information

5. ____ cognitive

6. ____ figurative, metaphorical language 

7. ____ used by engineers

8. ____ appeals to the mind

9. ____ used by poets

10. ____ the language of Psalms

B.    Identify the following verses of scripture as primarily: a. commissive or b. referential.

1. ____ And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem

2. ____ “On the Sabbath, while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some ears of grain . . .”

3. ____ Like a gold ring in a swine’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion

4. ____ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures.

5. ____ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.

6. ____ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth

7. ____ And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine

8. ____ Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews . . .

9. ____ And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.”