(1) Doubts can be raised about the above. (a) First, how does ‘man’ supposit in ‘Socrates was a man’? (Assume that Socrates does not [now] exist.) Likewise, how do the terms supposit in [propositions] about the past and in [propositions] about the future and about the possible, and in other propositions about a mode?
(2) The reason for the doubt is that it was said earlier1 that a term never supposits for anything except [for that] of which it is verified. But ‘man’, if Socrates does not exist, is not verified of Socrates, because ‘Socrates is a man’ is false then. Therefore, it does not supposit for Socrates, and consequently it does not supposit determinately.
(3) (b) Second, there is a doubt about ‘A white man is a man’, ‘[The one] singing the Mass is a man’, ‘The creating is God’, assuming that no one is white and that no one is singing the Mass and that God does not create.2 What do the subjects supposit for? For it seems that [they supposit] for no thing,3 because they are not verified of any such [thing]. Neither [do they supposit] for themselves, because in that case they would not have personal supposition. Therefore, they do not determinately supposit for anything. Consequently, they do not have determinate supposition.
(4) (c) The third doubt is how the subject supposits in ‘A horse is promised to you’, [or] ‘Twenty pounds are owed to you’. The reason for the doubt is that if the [subject] term supposits for its contents,4 [the propositions] seem false, since each [of their] singulars is false. So if the subject term supposits determinately, the proposition is false.
(5) (d) The fourth doubt is about ‘He is deprived of sight’, ‘He is naturally apt to have sight’, and so on for many others.
(6) (e) Fifth, what [kind of] supposition does the predicate have in ‘Genera and species are second substances’?
(7) (f) Sixth, [there is a doubt] about ‘An action is a thing outside the soul’, ‘A relation is a true thing’, ‘Creation is really the same as God’, and many such [propositions].
(8) (g) The seventh [doubt] is about ‘He twice was white’. For it seems that ‘white’ does not supposit determinately [there].
(9) (h) The eighth doubt: How do the subject and predicate supposit in ‘Only an animal is a man’.
(10) (i) Again, [there is a doubt] about ‘The Apostle says this’, ‘England fights’, ‘Drink the cup’, ‘The prow is in the sea’, ‘Your goodness acts mercifully’, ‘The clemency of the prince governs the realm’, and such.5
(11) To (a) the first of these [doubts], it must be said that in all such [propositions] the terms supposit personally. On this point, it must be understood that a term supposits personally when it supposits for its significates, or for [things] that were its significates or will be or can be. The earlier statement6 is to be understood in this sense. For it was stated above7 that ‘to signify’ is taken like this in one sense.
(12) But it must be understood that [a term] does not supposit for those [things] with respect to just any verb whatever. Rather, [a term] can supposit for [the things] it signifies, taking ‘signify’ strictly,8 with respect to any verb whatever, if [the term] signifies any such things.9 But it cannot supposit for what were its significates except with respect to a verb about the past. Therefore, each such proposition has to be distinguished, insofar as the term can supposit for [things] that are or for [things] that were. Likewise, [a term] cannot supposit for what will be except with respect to a verb about the future. Therefore, the proposition [containing a verb about the future] has to be distinguished, insofar as the term can supposit for [things] that are or for [things] that will be. Likewise, [a term] cannot supposit for what can be [its] significates, but are not, except with respect to a verb about the possible or about the contingent. Therefore, all such [propositions] have to be distinguished, insofar as the subject can supposit for [things] that are or for [things] that are able to be or can be. Therefore, all the following have to be distinguished: ‘Every man was white’, ‘Every white10 will be a man’, ‘Every white is able to be a man’, ‘Every man can run’.