P. considers the general properties of performatives from a linguistic and pragmatic point of view (with a discussion of Austin's performative/constative distinction, and the taxonomy of illocutionary acts), he presents a set of tests for determining performatives, he discusses Ross (1970: 'On declarative sentences') and presents an alternative, he considers the explicitness component as a basic parameter for classifying performatives, he investigates the problem of performative embedding, with particular reference to the co-occurrence restrictions on modal verbs and performatives, and he concludes with some general reflections.