Indirect speech acts are analyzed as double illocutionary acts: the primary illocutionary act (i.e. the ultimately intended one) and the secondary act (i.e. the one by means of which the primary force is indirectly obtained). Nothing is added to the original sentence meaning, but there is an additional speaker meaning. The possibility of using some sentences as indirect speech acts (while others cannot be used like that) is explained in terms of their obvious relation to the conditions governing the ultimately intended (i.e. primary) speech act. For instance, a positive answer to 'Can you reach the salt?' (or a situation in which that question can be answered positively) would fulfil one of the preparatory conditions for making a request to pass the salt: in order to make a request, the speaker must assume that the hearer can comply with the request.