Here, for example, is a part of the formal DTD for the register example given informally above.

<!ELEMENT register - - (entry+)> <!ELEMENT entry - o (name, trade, relation?)> <!ELEMENT name - - (#PCDATA)>

These three lines are examples of SGML declarations: each defines or declares a name for an element and what its content should be. The details of the syntax need not detain us; note only that each declaration (like everything else in SGML) is explicitly delimited, in this case by a symbol marking the start of a declaration (the “[`<!]”)