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3.143

That the propositional sign is a fact is concealed by the ordinary form of expression, written or printed.

(For in the printed proposition, for example, the sign of a proposition does not appear essentially different from a word. Thus it was possible for Frege to call the proposition a compounded name.)

3.1431

The essential nature of the propositional sign becomes very clean when we imagine it made up of spatial objects (such as tables, chairs, books) instead of written signs.

The mutual spatial position of these things then expresses the sense of the proposition.

3.1432

We must not say, "The complex sign `aRb' says `a stands in relation R to b'"; but we must says, "That `a' stands in a certain relation to `b' says that aRb".