Chapter 5 deals with Linear A syntax (word order) and orthography (spelling). The chapter begins by comparing several examples of the so-called “offering formula,” a standardized string of words—most likely a dedicatory sentence—found on many ritual vessels, but a sentence that differs in subtle ways from vessel to vessel. I use the differences between the various examples of the “offering formula” to discern which words are most likely to be the subject, verb, and object of the sentence. This exercise indicates a high likelihood that the Minoan language is a verb-initial language (i.e., one in which the verb ordinarily comes first in the sentence), which in turn enables us to draw additional important conclusions about the Minoan language based on the way in which most verb-initial languages behave. The chapter ends with some observations about the apparent way in which the Minoans spelled words in Linear A, leading to the interesting conclusion that the spelling-rules they used in Central and Eastern Crete most closely align with the spelling-rules used in Linear B and Cypriot Syllabic, respectively, a conclusion that is backed up by archaeological evidence.