Covert Persuasion With Presuppositions – Quantifiers
Each One Of These Has Many Benefits
This article is fourth in a series on linguistic presuppositions. Linguistic presuppositions are language patterns that cause your listener or reader to presuppose certain things are true in order to make sense of the sentence.
They can be of great help to persuaders, salespeople, and anybody else who wants to speak or write more persuasively.
Today’s lesson is on Quantifiers. These are words that separate out, in the listeners mind, some elements out of a larger group. Each, every, some, none, few, many are quantifier words. When used in conjunction with groups of people, they can help you create a powerful reference to support your persuasive message.
For example, consider the following sentences:
Doctors say you should exercise to lose weight.
Many doctors say you should exercise to lose weight.
The first one, while more convincing than just saying “You should exercise to lose weight,” still sounds a bit vague. How many doctors? Which doctors?
When you say “Many doctors,” it almost sounds as if you have a consensus among the medical profession, which gives your message, “exercise to lose weight, ” more persuasive effect.
Or how about this one:
Few doctors disagree that exercise is the best way to lose weight.
If you had any doubts as to the authority of the quoted group, they will be quickly lose while your mind is busy turning over that repeated negative (few…disagree) which leaves you with “exercise is the best way to lose weight.”
Or lets say you are a customer, who is visiting a widget salesman. You have been thinking about buying a widget for some time, and you’ve narrowed it down to a couple brands. Which sounds more persuasive?
I think you should buy Widget X, it is the most beneficial.
Not so good, right? How about this one:
People agree that Widget X is the best widget money can buy.
Better, since you’ve got some vague socially proofed claim.
But how about this:
Each person that has bought Widget X has been completely satisfied with its performance.
Or how about this one:
None of the people who bought Widget X have been unhappy with their decision.
And for really powerful results, you can combine the two:
Each person that has bought Widget X has been pleased with their decision, in fact, none of the people that have bought Widget X have been disappointed by both it’s quality and it’s performance.
Now, I’m sure that each of you reading this blog post has realized that every one of these articles on linguistic presuppositions can be valuable in many situations that you encounter in daily life.
In fact, I’d venture to guess that few successful persuaders, be they salespeople or otherwise, have reached their level of success without using some of these powerful patterns, in many situations, at least on a subconscious level.
Next we’ll start talking about more “complex” presuppositions, to become even more powerfully persuasive.
