e
the predicate; and if the substantive 'noise' was not implied in the
first form, _Loud is the applause_, by what right is it now inserted?
The recognition of Conversion, in fact, requires us to admit that,
formally, in a logical proposition, the term preceding the copula is
subject and the one following is predicate. And, of course, materially
considered, the mere order of terms in a proposition can make no
difference in the method of proving it, nor in the inferences that can
be drawn from it.

Still, if the question is, how we may best cast a literary sentence into
logical form, good grounds for a definite answer may perhaps be found.
We must not try to stand upon the naturalness of expression, for _Dark
is the fate of man_ is quite as natural as _Man is mortal_. When the
purpose is not merely to state a fact, but also to express our feelings
about it, to place the grammatical predicate first may be perfectly
natural and most effective. But the grounds of a logical order of
statement must be found in its adaptation to the purposes of proof and
inference. Now general propositions are those from which most inferences
can be drawn, which, therefore, it is most important to establish, if
true; and they are also the easiest to disprove, if false; since a
single negative instance suffices to establish the contradictory. It
follows that, in re-casting a literary or colloquial sentence for
logical purposes, we should try to obtain a form in which the subject is
distributed--is either a singular term or a general term predesignate as
'All' or 'No.' Seeing, then, that most adjectives connote a single
attribute, whilst most substantives connote more than one attribute; and
that therefore the denotation of adjectives is usually wider than that
of substantives; in any proposition, one term of which is an adjective
and the other a substantive, if either can be distributed in relation to
the other, it is nearly sure to be the substantive; so that to take the
substantive term for subject is our best chance of obtaining an
universal proposition. These considerations seem to justify the practice
of Logicians in selecting their examples.

For similar reasons, if both terms of a proposition are substantive, the
one with the lesser denotation is (at least in affirmative
propositions) the more suitable subject, as _Cats are carnivores_. And
if one term is abstract, that is the more suitable subject; for, as we
have seen, an abstract te