NLP Language Patterns Flashcards
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Phonological Ambiguity
Homonyms which tend to create mild confusion.
Give an example of the following language pattern:
Phonological Ambiguity
- He reddened as he read it
- There’s no “their” in there
- You are the one who has won
- You can be hear / here anytime you wish
- And here today as you hear your unconscious mind
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Punctuational Ambiguity
Connecting two phrases with one word at the end of the first statement and with the first word of the second phrase.
Give an example of the following language pattern:
Punctuational Ambiguity
- She has freckles on her butt I like her anyway (run-on sentence)
- I want you to notice your hand me the book (run-on sentence)
- On your arm I see a watch yourself going into trance (run-on sentence)
- “My wife left me … to go to the shops” (improper pause)
- “… good … day” (improper pause)
- “You go into trance… and writing examples of Milton model responses is an interesting exercise” (incomplete sentence)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Scope Ambiguity
Where the scope of the linguistic content cannot be determined
Give an example of the following language pattern:
Scope Ambiguity
- … and speaking to you as a healing master, you must realise that by now …
- Hearing Bob and Joan
- Your deep breathing and trance
- The weight of your hands and feet
- Yesterday I was driving my car with tennis shoes on
- I was riding my horse with blue jeans on
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Syntactic Ambiguity
Where the function of a word cannot be quickly known from the immediate context
Give an example of the following language pattern:
Syntactic Ambiguity
- Hurting people can be difficult
- Hypnotizing hypnotists can be tricky
- They are visiting relatives
- I am really over managing managers
- Speaking to you as a child
- Babbling brook / running water / shooting stars
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Analogical Marking
- Marks a portion of the sentence using nonverbal ques, such as a hand gesture or a louder tone
- Analog communication is delivering a message, without words (digital).
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
You make me feel like I am not perfect.
- “How does what __ is doing cause you to __?
- Recovers choice (Cause-Effect)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Cause - Effect
- Where cause for one’s behaviour or a feeling is wrongfully attributed to someone or something other than oneself.
- Where it is implied or directly stated that one thing causes another.
- Linguistic markers include: ”makes,” “if … then” “as … then”
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
You make me feel like I am not perfect.
Cause and Effect
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Cause-Effect
- Because …
- As you sit there, then you can feel
- If you sit in this chair, you’ll go into trance
- Because we are here, you are learning many new things
- As you contemplate Milton Model, you can go deeply into trance.
- … and that’s because it’s artfully vague
- Reading this sentence, you get better and better
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
** “She’s more sure.”**
- “Compared to whom or what?”
- Recovering the deletion (Comparative Deletion)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Comparative Deletion
Words which imply a comparison but lack the object on which the comparison is based.
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
** “She’s more sure.”**
Comparative deletion
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Comparative Deletion
- At the very least, understand even more deeply …
- And it is more or less the right thing
- You are feeling more and more curious
- You’re going deeper and deeper
- As you think these higher thoughts
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
When you turn away, you don’t think I’m good enough for you
- “How does his __ mean he __?” “Have you ever __ someone who you did think was __?”
- Provides counterexample and recovers deep structure (Complex Equivalence)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Complex Equivalence
- Where things – or their meanings – are equated as synonymous.
- Two experiences are interpreted as being synonymous when they may not be.
- When a behaviour, etc. is said to mean ___ .
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
When you turn away, you don’t think I’m good enough for you
Complex equivalence
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Complex Equivalence
- That means
- You are relaxing, so you’re in trance
- Being here means that you will change
- Your body relaxes as you let go each breath
- Your relaxed body means that you are in trance now
- Your ability to go into trance enables you to change your behaviour
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Conversational Postulate
A yes/no question to which the listener will respond by actually doing what is implied
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Conversational Postulate
- But could you just look up for a moment?
- Can you close the door / pass the salt?
- Can you imagine … ?
- Do you know that you know this already?
- Can you remember to be kind to yourself?
- Would you like … to just sit here … and relax now?
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Double Bind
Statements or questions which engage one’s attention on a consequence which presupposes something else. It creates what Erickson called “an illusion of choice.”
Give an example of the following language pattern:
Double Bind
- As you dream, or upon awakening …
- Do you want to begin now or later?
- Either before, or after, leaving this room …
- Will you begin to change now or after this session?
- Take all the time you need to finish up in the next five minutes
- You can change as quickly or as slowly as you want to now
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Embedded Command
Nesting a command in a sentence so that it is grammatically not a command but is marked out as a command by analog behavior; e.g. “I wonder how soon you will HAVE FUN LEARNING NLP!”
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Embedded Quote
A language pattern whereby a message is delivered as if another person said it (i.e. in quotes), thus distancing the speaker from the message e.g. “Some people might say that that ‘you’re being selfish’.”
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Embedded Command
“It is possible for you to instruct a client’s unconscious mind through embedded commands to get well now” (through analogue marking)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Extended Quote
Linguistically chaining a series of contexts which tend to overload one’s conscious attention and dissociate what is being said by the speaker.
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Embedded Quote
“I remember when I first met…He told me…that he met (SOMEONE) who said to him…”
Making suggestions through the words of a character in a story
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
You’re not good enough unless you are perfect
- “Who says …”
- Recovers source of belief, belief strategy (Lost Performative)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Lost Performative
Making a value judgement without stating whose opinion it is and acting as if the statement is true. Value judgements where the performer of the judgment has been deleted
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
You’re not good enough unless you are perfect
Lost Performative
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Lost Performative
- And it is a good thing to learn …
- That’s right
- It’s great that you can change
- Today is a great day
- It’s important to learn
- One doesn’t have to
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
He doesn’t think I am good enough
- Challenge: “How do you know _______?”
- Recovers source of information (Mind Read)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Mind Reading
Claiming to know the internal process (thoughts and feelings) of another without identifying the process or sensory-based data which was used to determine the information.
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
He doesn’t think I am good enough
Mind Read
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Mind-Reading
- I know you are learning
- I realize / can see you already know
- I’m sure you’re aware
- I know you are thinking how wonderful trance is
- I know that you came here for a purpose
- I bet you’re upset about that
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
I must succeed.
- “What would happen if you did?” or “What wouldn’t happen if you didn’t?”
- Recovers effects and outcomes (MO of Necessity)
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
I can’t stay in a relationship
- “What prevents you?” or “What would happen if you did?”
- Recovers cause (MO of Possibility)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Modal Operator
Words that dictate or imply what is possible and/or necessary in life.
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Modal Operator
- That you can learn to use
- You shouldn’t go into trance too quickly, now
- You must be getting this now … at some level …
- You can change overnight
- It’s possible to learn everything easily and quickly
- You can begin to get that change now
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
I must succeed.
Modal operator of necessity
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
I can’t stay in a relationship
Modal operator of possibility
Name 4 types of modal operators (excluding negative forms and not the Steve Andreas classification)
Modal Operators of:
- Necessity: verbs which presuppose a need or a requirement (should, must, got to, have to, need to)
- Possibility: verbs which presuppose choice or possibility (can/can’t, will/won’t, may/may not, possible/impossible)
- Judgement: “right” “You should be a better _____” (lost performative)
- Contingency: “would/wouldn’t” - rules for limits
Name 6 types of modal operators (including negative forms)
Modal Operators of:
- Necessity: Should, must, ought to, have to, supposed to
- Negative Necessity: Shouldn’t, mustn’t
- Probability: Could, may, might, had better
- Improbability: Couldn’t, may not, might not
- Possibility: Able to, can, try, will
- Impossibility: Am not, can’t, try not, won’t
Name the 4 types of modal operators as described by Steve Andreas
Modal Operators of:
- Motivation: (i.) Necessity: “should,” “must,” “have to,” etc. and (ii.) Desire: “wish,” “want,” “need,” etc.
- Options: (i.) Possibility: “can,” “able to,” “capable,” etc. and (ii.) Choice: “choose,” “select,” “decide,” etc.
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
My decisions create limitations in my life
- “How are you deciding to limit yourself now?” or “What unlimited possibilities do you want to be deciding upon now?”
- Recovers process (Nominalisation)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Nominalisation
A process (stated as a verb) which has been changed to an event (noun) resulting into a static condition - often by adding an -ing to the word
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
My decisions create limitations in my life
Nominalisation
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Nominalisation
- In various creative combinations to produce new understandings and abilities that can stay with you the rest of your life …
- As you sit with a feeling of ease and comfort
- Your understanding of hypnosis is growing
- This exercise provides you with new insights and understandings
- The improved communication in your relationships shows your learnings are paying off
- Your demonstrations are perfect examples that trance works
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Pacing current experience
- As you are sitting here, looking at the letters and reading this …
- You hear my voice
- We are in this room
- And you continue breathing in and out
- As you notice each blink of your eyes
- You are aware of your thoughts
List the language pattens classified as “distracting the conscious mind”.
- Ambiguity (Phonological, Punctuational, Scope ans Syntactic)
- Double bind
- Extended quote
- Selectional restriction violation
- Spelling words (“… and you S-E-E”)
Name 5 “accessing unconscious resources” language patterns.
- Conversational postulate
- Tag question
- Embedded commands
- Embedded questions
- Utilisation
Define “deletions” as a category of language patterns.
Process by which we selectively pay attention to certain dimensions of our experience and exclude others.
List the language patterns categorised as deletions.
- Nominalisations
- Simple deletions
- Unspecified verb
- Unspecified noun
- Unspecified comparison (comparative deletion)
- Unspecified referential index
Define “distortions” as a category of language patterns.
Process which allows us to make shifts in our experience of sensory data (e.g. fantasy).
List the language pattens classified as distortions.
- Cause-effect
- Complex equivalence
- Lost performative
- Mind Read
- Pre-supposition
- Other
There are at least 4 types of distortions that are not generally listed / discussed in NLP. List and define / give examples.
- Delusional verbal split (mind and body; thinking and feeling in an emotion)
- Emotionalising (“The world is a sad place.”)
- Metaphor and simile (“Love is a rose” and “Love is like a rose” – “How does this X relate to that Y?”)
- Personalizing (Connecting external events to self-image)
List the major groupings according to which the patterns in this file is organised.
- Deletions
- Distortions
- Generalisations, plus
- Access Unconscious Resources
- Distract Conscious Mind and
- Pacing Current Experience
Define “generalisations” as a category of language patterns.
Process by which elements/pieces of a person’s model become detached from original experience and come to represent entire category of which the experience is an example.
List the language patterns categorised as deletions.
- Lost Performative
- Modal Operators
- Universal Quantifiers
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Pacing Current Experience
Truisms about listener’s current experience.
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
Your dress probably wishes you were younger
- Present presupposition directly (e.g. “Are you implying she is too old for the style of clothes that she wears?”) and challenge it if appropriate or accept presupposition and challenge deletions and generalisations
- Recovers presupposition
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Presuppositions
The linguistic equivalent of assumptions. What has to be assumed to be true for a statement to make sense.
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
Your dress probably wishes you were younger
Presupposition (specific type - selectional restriction violation)
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Presuppositions
- You have many valuable skills and resources available to you at a moment’s notice …
- You are changing all the time
- You can do this even better
- You’ll be able to learn even more tomorrow
- You can easily move in the direction of your dreams
- After you pass this class, the next one is easier
- You realize you have more resources than ever befor
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Selectional Restriction Violation
It’s about giving things and beings human qualities they can’t by definition possess.
Give an example of the following language pattern:
Selectional Restriction Violation
- A butterfly takes its time coming out of the cocoon; it knows there’s no rush.
- The tortoise keeps going, knowing it will get there in the end as long as it perseveres.
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
“I’m not sure …“
- “About what / whom?”
- Recovering the deletion (Simple Deletion)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Simple Deletion
Important element missing from surface structure including:
- Unspecified nouns (“Get a life”);
- Unspecified adjectives (“Must you wear that silly hat”) indicating interpretation rather than observation (link to lost performative) and
- Unspecified / assumed relationships (“I can’t have a relationship unless I lose weight”).
Cue words: “it”, “that”
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
“I’m not sure …“
Simple deletion
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Simple Deletion
- It is possible …
- As you think about it
- And know that
- It is obviously clear
- You are ready to listen
- And you can learn comfortably
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Tag Question
- A question added at the end of a statement to displace resistance.
- It will usually create an affirmative answer and can also be accompanied by a temporal shift.
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Tag Question
- Haven’t you…?
- Isn’t it?
- And you can, can you not?
- Will you?
- Aren’t we?
- Don’t you know?
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
I never do it right
- “Never?” or “What would happen if you did?”
- Recovers outcome, effects and counter-examples (Universal Quantifier)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Universal Quantifier
Nouns, adjectives or adverbs which presuppose total inclusion or exclusion i.e. that are absolute generalisations lacking a referential index, such as: any, always, never, everyone, nobody, every, all, none, etc.
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
I never do it right
Universal quantifier
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Universal Quantifier
- All the resources you’ll ever need
- There is always more to learn
- Everyone here has something to learn
- One can never know all there is to know
- There is always tomorrow
- Nobody’s perfect
- Everyone knows it to be true
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
Get a life
- What do you mean with life?
- Recover the deletion (unspecified noun)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Unspecified Noun
- Unspecified nouns are nouns (the performer / person / being or thing part) where you don’t know who or what they are specifically talking about. “They said …”
- Noun without referential index
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
Get a life
Unspecified noun
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Unspecified Noun
- Every person on the planet
- The girls in the office
- New Zealanders
- The neighbours
- Elderly drivers wearing hats
- People who don’t do as they are told
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
“They aren’t sure …“
- “Who specifically?”
- Recovers who is doing the action (Unspecified Referential Index)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Unspecified Referential Index
A phrase that deletes who is doing the acting.
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
“They aren’t sure …“
Unspecified referential index
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Unspecified Referential Index
- And one can, you know …”
- People can
- It puts people through changes
- That would help you go deeper
- One can easily see
- There will be people who are important to you
Provide a challenge to the phrase below and indicate the function thereof:
I can’t learn
- How specifically … ?
- Recovers process information (Unspecified Verb)
Give a definition of the following language pattern:
Unspecified Verb
Process words which lack a complete description
Note: All verbs are to a greater or lesser degree unspecified.
Name the language pattern illustrated by the phrase below:
I can’t learn
Unspecified verb
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Unspecified Verb
- And you can …
- I was wondering if you can
- Just let go
- And go deeper
- As you enjoy doing this
- And you may discover how you are improving
- As you make sense of this in your own time
Give an example of the utilisation of the following language pattern in a statement:
Utilisation
“I can’t be hypnotized” … “That’s right, you can’t be hypnotized yet”
