and significance. They are, as a rule, made colloquially briefer when combined in a narrative than when made alone, and when several signs are rapidly made one after another they apparently lose their individuality, though to the experienced observer the essential part of the sign is preserved. For there are usually some essential movements of the hands or fingers in each sign and some that are not essential, and a one-armed man making the necessary part of the signs with one hand instead of two against his body or a near-by object is readily understood.
In using signs to express thought an idea is presented in word pictures rather than in an orderly arrangement of single signs that correspond to single words in grammatical order. Hence there is not always an exact interpretation of the thought in words, but in pictures only. For this reason the language is manifestly imperfect when compared with written or spoken language.
One sign conveying an idea may be translated into different words under different circumstances or as used in connection with different subjects. This is apparent in the use of the one sign for different grammatical forms of the same word, as there is no difference in making the sign whether the adjective, the noun, or the adverb is intended. The context, so to speak, is depended upon to determine which of these is intended. Thus the sign for "love" conveying the idea of affection may mean the verb "love," the nouns "love," "affection," the adjectives "loving," "dear," "affectionate," "loved," etc., and the adverbs "lovingly," "affectionately," and so on. "Pretty" may be also "beauty," "loveliness," "comeliness," "fairness," "beautiful," "lovely," "handsome," "fair," and again "beautifully," "handsomely," and so on through the list.
It should be noted, in passing, what beginners sometimes overlook, that words spelled alike but different in meaning have different signs. This is obvious when one remembers ideas and not sounds are represented. Thus the preposition "to" and the infinitive "to" are vastly different in signs.
The tense sign is not always necessary and in ordinary conversation is rarely indicated except when one desires to be explicit. If at dinner one expresses an intention of going to town in the afternoon he simply says in signs, "I go town afternoon. This is interpreted as "I am going to town this
