VIVO is built using "triples!" consisting of a subject (an individual in ontology! terms, also sometimes referred to informally as an item or entity), a predicate (an object property or a data property) and an object (once again, any individual in VIVO). These "triples" are also called statements and reflect the structure of a sentence in ordinary language. Subject-predicate-object triples express the relationships among the individuals in VIVO using object properties! and support attributes of individuals (e.g., first name, start date) using data properties.