1.

In the Sophist and following Protagoras, Plato analyzes speech into two
parts, i.e., a noun and a verb. A verb is a sign of actions, while a noun
is a sign of agents of the actions. A sentence, he insists, must consist
of at least one noun and at least one verb: two nouns in succession, or
two verbs in succession, will never make a sentence. This distinction
becomes the foundation of Aristotles logical analysis of argument.
2. A is a discourse in which from certain things laid down
something different follows of necessity (1.1. 24b18).
3. A proposition (protasis) is, roughly speaking, a sentence considered in
respect of its logical features.
a. Propositions such as Every man is mortal and No Greeks are
horses are universal propositions (katholou). The former is a
universal affirmative (kataphatikos), while the latter is a
universal negative (apophatikos).
b. There are particular propositions (en merei) such as Some
Greeks are bearded (a particular affirmative) or Some Greeks
are not bearded (a particular negative).
4. In propositions of all these kinds, Aristotle says, something is
predicated of something else. The presence or absence of a negative
sign determine whether these predications are affirmations or
negations respectively (1.1. 24b17).
5. The items that enter into predications in propositions are called by
Aristotle terms (horoi). Terms can either figure as predicates
themselves or have other terms predicated of them.
a. Major term is the predicate of the conclusion.
b. Minor term is the term of which the major is predicated in the
conclusion.
c. Middle term is the term that appears in each of the premisses.
i. Aristotles use of these terms in the Prior Analytics is not
consistent. But the above account is accepted as
canonical since antiquity (see W.C. Kneale and M. Kneale,
The Development of Logic (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962),
69-71).
6. Aristotle uses schematic letters to bring out the patterns of the
argument: If A belongs to every B, and B belongs to every C, A
belongs to every C.
a. Aristotles exposition of syllogisms follows the pattern If p and
q, then necessarily r rather than p, q therefore r.