relationship type `recommends'. Typical non-key attributes of the RECOMMENDATION might be DATE_RECOMMENDED and STATUS (whether the recommendation has been approved or not). Another advantage of replacing the ternary relationship type is that a ternary or higher-order relationship type cannot in any real sense have a direction. Another is that in Fig. 3.8(a) it is not clear from the diagram (without pre-existing contextual knowledge) what is recommending what to what. Does a lecturer recommend a course in a text? Or does a lecturer recommend a text for a course?