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Searle and Vanderveken ( 1985 ) often speak about what they call ' illocutionary force indicating devices ' ( IFIDs ).

These are supposed to be elements, or aspects of linguistic devices which indicate either ( dependent on which conceptions of " illocutionary force " and " illocutionary act " are adopted ) that the utterance is made with a certain illocutionary force, or else that it constitutes the performance of a certain illocutionary act.

In English, for example, the interrogative mood is supposed to indicate that the utterance is ( intended as ) a question ; the directive mood indicates that the utterance is ( intended as ) a directive illocutionary act ( an order, a request, etc.

); the words " I promise " are supposed to indicate that the utterance is ( intended as ) a promise.

Possible IFIDs in English include: word order, stress, intonation contour, punctuation, the mood of the verb, and performative verbs.