Objection: if speech is one attribute, how can it be related to both commands and reports when these have distinct meanings? The objection can confuse different communicative meanings with separate material parts of an attribute.
The reply is that the kinds of speech should not be pictured as physical components composing a body. The difference between a command and a report remains genuine; it does not turn eternal speech into a chain of letters or material pieces.
The unity of the attribute and the diversity of articulated sentences belong to different levels of analysis.
One historical view attempted to reduce all forms of speech, in their original sense, to reporting. The objection is that reports are discussed in terms of truth and falsehood, whereas commands and prohibitions primarily require or forbid action. Their distinct communicative meanings should not simply be erased.