2.2.1 Scheme Sentences

Scheme sentences are sequences of words separated by spaces, preceded and followed by ``('' and ``)''. The first word of a sentence is a verb (or verb like special word) which is applied to the remaining words in the sentence. For example:

> (* 2 3)
6

is verbalized as times 2 3. Some sentences use special words which are technically not verbs. An example is:

(if (< a b)
     a
     b)

This sentence may be verbalized as If less than a b, then a, else b. The word if is not a verb which means that an if sentence has a special evaluation rule. There are relatively few special words and hence relatively few exceptions to the normal rule for sentence formation.

Compound sentences may be formed as in:

(* (- a b) (- a c))

which might be verbalized as Times the quantity minus a b and the quantity minus a c.