The main lesson is methodological: define the truth criterion before applying it to examples. The majority focus on reality, al-Naẓẓām on the speaker’s belief, and al-Jāḥiẓ on specified combinations of reality and belief, with intermediate cases.
Worked example: Zayd is not at home, but a speaker firmly believes he is and asserts that he is. Majority: false; al-Naẓẓām: true; al-Jāḥiẓ: intermediate. The difference lies in criteria, not syntax.
The next section, Aḥwāl al-Isnād al-Khabarī, investigates the modes of assertoric predication and their rhetorical use.