This is an article in a series on linguistic presuppositions, those powerfully effective language patterns that you can use conversationally to persuade your listeners and readers.

Today’s pattern is called the “Spurious Not,” and is similar in structure to both the rhetorical question pattern and the negative question pattern.

You can use it as follows. Take any negative question, separate the contraction (e.g. aren’t you à are you not) and simply make the question. When you separate the “not” out like that, it takes a little bit more brain processor time to make sense of the question.

If you’ve ever see a TV show when the lawyer had some poor witness on the stand, and kept firing away with questions like:

“Were you not there that night that…”
“Did you not see the defendant…”
“Are you not aware that you are under oath?”

These are intended to throw the witness off guard, and make them more susceptible to tell the truth, (or less resistant to cover something up) or in the case of les than ethical attorney’s, answer the questions in a way that throws their client in a better light, or confuses the jury, so that they will have a harder time coming back with a verdict against the attorney’s client.

In order to persuade, it’s best to phrase these like you are asking a question of yourself, and then follow up with a more “leading” statement.

Idea = exercise is the best way to lose weight

I wonder if you are not already aware that exercise is the best way to lose weight, because when you realize that you can save a lot of money by not buying all those diet pills and mail order meal plans.

I wonder if you are not already aware that many people have already discovered that exercise is not only the best way to lose weight, but also a great way to improve the quality of your sleep and boost your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Idea = dollar cost averaging is the best way to make money in the stock market

I wonder if you are not already aware that dollar cost averaging is the best way to make money in the stock market, and can save you lots of time and worry.

I wonder if you are not already aware of many people who are now happily retired simply because they decided before that the simplest and most effective way to consistently make money in the stock market is through simple, dollar cost averaging.

Idea = presuppositions are a great way to persuade people

I wonder if you are not becoming more and more aware that with these simple language patterns, you can easily persuade your friends and family to vastly improve their lives by opening up a world of possibility around them.

I wonder if you are not starting to realize that presuppositions are not only a powerfully effective way to conversationally persuade others, but they will make it virtually impossible for others to manipulate you, as you will be able to clearly see their intentions beneath their language.

I wonder if you are not already seeing the benefit of not only reading this blog on a daily basis, but also of emailing a link to all your friends, so they too can benefit from these powerful language patterns?

Today’s lesson on linguistic presuppositions, those powerful language patterns that you can use to easily and powerfully persuade others, is another doozy.

Logically, then send the listener in a quick time distortion combined with what in sales they call the “takeaway.” Then, all of a sudden, there they are in the present with a huge opportunity to get what they seemingly just lost, and all they have to do is to believe whatever it is you are trying to persuade them!

Sounds cool, right?

The pattern today is called the Counterfactual Conditional Clause, or clauses that are in the Subjunctive Tense. Both mean talking about something that isn’t true, as if it were.

If I were tall, I would play basketball.

If I saw a UFO, I would take a picture.

The actual definition of the Subjunctive is rather vague. The basic definition is talking about something as if it were true, even though it is unlikely that it is.

The way to use this in persuasion is take the idea you’d like to persuade your listener of, put it into a conditional clause, put it in the subjunctive, or counterfactual voice, and finally, put it in the past tense.

For example, first lets create a conditional clause:

If I go out to dinner, I’ll eat chicken. (Eating chicken is dependent upon going out to dinner.)

Now we put it in the subjunctive, or counterfactual voice:

If I went out to dinner, I’d eat chicken. (Eating chicken is dependent on going out to dinner, but it’s not likely to happen.)

Now put it in the past tense.

If I had gone out to dinner, I could have eaten chicken. Since it’s in the past tense, all my chances of eating chicken are gone, so I feel like I’ve missed out on something.

For persuasion, lets use the previously used examples:

Idea = exercise is the best way to lose weight

If you had started a simple exercise program a month ago, you could have lost about ten pounds by now.

Hearing this makes it sound as if the person in question has missed out on losing ten pounds. And since losing something of value is highly persuasive, they would be much more likely to start an exercise program than if we’d said:

If you exercise, you’ll lose weight.

Idea = dollar cost averaging is the best way to make money in the stock market

If you had started a simple dollar cost averaging program five years ago, with only as little as 50 dollars a month, you could have generated a huge bank account by now, which could have given you an easy cushion against any unemployment that may come the future.

Now it sounds like we’re really missing the boat, and we’d better sign up for whatever investment plan is offered to us, so we can get back that money that we didn’t make in the first place. We don’t even question the idea that dollar cost averaging is the best way to make money in the stock market.

Now just imagine now, how powerfully persuasive you’d be today if only you’d started studying these amazing language patterns only a couple years ago.

You could have been able to influence more people, close more sales, and been the center of attention at every social gathering. Just talking to people could have been an interesting experiment in covert mind control, as you would have had the power by now to walk up to any stranger, any place, and strike up a simple conversation and within moments literally having them eat out of your hands.

Not only that, but you would have been impervious to manipulation, as you could have been able to see people with less than noble intentions a mile away, and would have quickly been able to dismantle their efforts at verbally tricking you.

What you do now, of course, is up to you. But some people decide that learning these patterns is a skill that can powerfully influence all areas of your life to affect positive changes in the lives of others.

Linguistic presuppositions are incredibly powerful language patterns that you can use to easily persuade others through simple conversation. This is another article in a series of how to do just that.

Today’s pattern is the use of “Change Of Time Verbs and Adverbs.” These are very powerful because they can be used to conversationally invoke the power of time distortion. This is a powerful hypnotic technique.

To get how powerful this is, think of something your purchased, something that you are very happy with, but were a bit reluctant to plot down your credit card or sign the contract. But then something happened when you took whatever it was into your possession. You started thinking about all the cool ways you could enjoy whatever it was you just bought. There was a quick mental shift from worry to excitement.

When you use time distortion, you can create this mental shift rather easily. If you’ve ever undergone hypnosis for some personal change work, they sometimes do something called “future pacing.” You imagine yourself out in the future, with your problem solved, and imagine how much better life is. You can then take those positive feelings from a hallucinated future and bring them back in the present to help create the change your after.

Kind of like the “Planet of the Apes” series of movies. The talking apes came back to the present from the future, left a talking ape baby, who started the whole race of talking apes. There was no future without the present, but there was no present with the visit from the future.

When you use time distortion, you bring back good feelings from the future, on the other side of whatever obstacle you are facing, back into the present to create the future that you just imagined.

You can use this conversationally with words like “Begin, Stop, End, Continue, Start, Proceed, Already, Yet, Still..” etc.

For example, when I want to convince somebody that exercise is the best way to lose weight, I can say something like the following:

Once you realize that exercise is the best way to lose weight, you will continue to enjoy many other benefits such as better sleep, higher self-esteem, and even better posture.

Many people have already discovered that exercise is the best way to lose weight, and they are continuing to reap the benefits.

When you start to exercise on a daily basis, you will continue to be surprised at just what an effective method it is to lose weight.

Similarly, with dollar cost averaging being a good way to make money in the stock market:

When you start a dollar cost averaging program with our firm, you’ll begin to understand, as so many others have already done, that this is without question the best way to consistently make money in the stock market.

Despite the many people that have already grown their accounts through simple dollar cost averaging, there are still people who haven’t yet discovered this powerful investment strategy.

Now, I’m not sure what your exact plans are for persuasion. Maybe you’ve already decided how you are going to use these powerful patterns, or maybe you are beginning to understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as how versatile and powerful these patterns can become for you.

Whatever you do decide to use these for, you will continue to amaze yourself with just how skillfully you already know how to use them. In fact, you’ve perhaps already begun to notice yourself using these patterns in more and more amazing ways.

This article is another in a series on presuppositions. These are linguistic patterns that are structured so that you may covertly deliver ideas so that your listener will take them on as their own. They can be used both conversationally, and written.

Today’s pattern is Ordinal Numbers. Ordinal numbers are first, second, third, etc, as well as words like next, or another. They are used to create a sequential list, either of things, or of events in time.

Logically, they work similar to the subordinate clause of time presuppositions. In the sentence, “When I go to dinner, I will eat chicken,” the “going to dinner” is presupposed, and the focus is on what you will do (e.g. “eat chicken”) when you get there. It is structured so “going to dinner” is not questioned.

When ordinal numbers are used, they create the same effect.

The basic structure is to create something in the future that will be the result of whatever it is you want to persuade your listener or reader to accept.

For example, if I want to persuade someone to exercise in order to lose weight, I can say the following:

The first thing you’ll notice when you start to exercise to lose weight is now much better you’ll sleep at night.

The focus seems to be on getting a good night sleep, but in order to imagine getting a good night’s sleep, the listener (or reader) will have to first presuppose exercising to lose weight.

Another example. Dollar cost averaging will make you money in the stock market.

The first thing you’ll notice when you start making money through dollar cost averaging is how little time it really takes. Most people only spend about 20 minutes a week or so, and notice their wealth consistently increase over time.

Again, in order to imagine increasing wealth, the listener has to presuppose that dollar cost averaging is going to get them there.

One more:

The first thing you’ll appreciate once you start practicing presuppositions in your daily life is how incredibly powerful they are to persuade with. Another thing you’ll notice is that nobody will ever have any idea what you are doing.

Here I’ve put two things out in the future, one is persuading with presuppositions, and another is that people won’t notice you using them. In order to imagine either of those, you have to accept the presupposition that you will actually use them in daily life.

If you really want to have some fun, you can start off with “second” and then use “another.”

The second thing you’ll become aware of when you begin using presuppositions on a daily basis is the fascinating fact that most people will think they thought of the idea themselves, when in reality it was you persuaded them to think that. Another great thing about presuppositions is by knowing how to create them, you’ll notice when others are using them to try and manipulate you. After that it will be extremely difficult for anybody to manipulate you into anything.

Here I put three things in the future, starting with “second,” then “another,” and then “after that.”

Because I started with “second” you may have started to wonder about the “first” thing, but if this were a real conversation, and not a step by step blog post, by the time I got to the third presupposed “benefit” you would have forgotten about the missing “first,” as well as any resistance to accepting the idea that presuppositions are incredibly powerful.

Hopefully by now, you’re starting to realize the incredible power of presuppositions. The first thing that most people, like you, usually realize when they discover these powerful patterns is that when you begin to combine them, them become nearly impossible to detect, as well as resist. And the more you practice them, the more influential you’ll become in all areas of your life.

This is another article in a series on how you can use linguistic presuppositions to easily and naturally persuade others to your way of thinking. Linguistic presuppositions are sentences that on a logical level are very hard to argue with. When you combine several of them together, their persuasive power can be extremely difficult to resist, so be careful not to make anybody think or do something they will later regret.

Today’s topic is the pseudo cleft sentence. Similar to the cleft sentence, but slightly more powerful. The basic pattern is this:

What (idea1) is (idea2)

Where idea1 and idea2 are phrases of varying lengths. The best way to use these is to set it up so idea1 is a positive outcome that your listener or reader will likely enjoy, and idea2 is the cause of idea1, of which you are trying to persuade your audience.

A couple examples

Idea1 = nice, slim, sexy body, drawing the attraction of members of the opposite sex

Idea1 = daily exercise

Sentence:

What will give you an incredibly slim body that will get you more attention than you’ve ever thought possible is simple daily exercise of only a few minutes.

Idea1 = money, (lots and lots of it)

Idea2 = dollar cost averaging

Sentence:

What will get you wealth that consistently grows on its own is the simple practice of dollar cost averaging.

Idea1 = powerful persuasion skills

Idea2 = linguistic presuppositions

Sentence:

What will absolutely skyrocket your persuasion skills so that you can pretty much sell anything to anybody are linguistic presuppositions.

You can juice these up a little bit by prefacing the beginning “What” with some commentary adjectives or adjective phrases:

It’s amazing that what will create a stunning body is simple daily exercise.

It’s funny that most people don’t know that what gives most expert salespeople their massive closing ratios are these simple things called linguistic presuppositions.

It’s absolutely incredible that what can set you up for a comfortable retirement is simple dollar cost averaging.

It’s amazing that what will give you incredible insight into human language, so that you can not only persuade others with ease, but also know when other people are using these powerful skills to try and manipulate you, is reading this blog on a daily basis for more and more information.

This is an article in a series on linguistic presuppositions. These powerful patterns can dramatically increase your capacity for covert, conversational persuasion, as they are structured to deliver ideas to your listener or reader that will bypass their conscious “critic” and go straight into the unconscious.

Today’s pattern is cleft sentences. Cleft sentences are sentences that start with either “It is…, ” or “it was…,” that can be used in various ways; here I will go over two powerful methods.

The first is to insert a commentary adjective (interesting, wonderful, fantastic, surprising, etc) after the “It is..” and then insert the idea you want to persuade your listener or reader.

Some examples:

Idea = Exercise is best for weight loss
Adjective = interesting

It’s (it is) interesting that exercise is one of the best ways to lose weight.

Idea = dollar cost investing is the best way to make money
Adjective = surprising

It’s surprising that dollar cost averaging is such a great way to make money. I had always thought that you needed to have inside information, or be an expert.

Idea = presuppositions are powerful persuasive tools
Adjective = amazing

It’s amazing how much you can increase your persuasive ability by studying presuppositions.

Another way to use this pattern is to use a reference, and then put them in the past tense. Then phrase the sentence as if the outcome has already been accomplished. Just find somebody who has already exhibited the idea you want to persuade your audience.

Some examples:

Idea: dollar cost averaging is a great way to make money
Reference: friend (or somebody you read about) who already made money through dollar cost averaging.

I was talking to (reading about, etc) this rich guy the other day. It was his consistent application of dollar cost averaging that allowed him to amass so much wealth in the stock market.

Idea = exercise is the best way to lose weight.
Reference = friend of yours who lost a lot of weight

I have this friend who looks great. I asked her how she did it, and she said she tried all kinds of different weight loss methods, but in the end, it was consistent daily exercise that made it easy to lose the weight.

Idea = presuppositions can skyrocket your persuasion skills
Reference = a friend (or somebody you read about) that is the top salesperson in their company

I was reading this article about this guy who always comes in first in his company’s annual sales competition. He said that it was his relentless study of presuppositions that gave him such powerful sales and persuasion skills.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how wonderful it is that there are these language patterns that can give you incredible power in your social life as well as your business, whatever it may be.

Indeed, most of the most successful people you’ll meet will tell you that it was their continued desire to learn more information and techniques that gave them their edge.

I don’t know if it’s your desire to increase your success that makes you optimistic about the future, or your capacity for continued improvement in all areas of life that drives you to continue to learn and improve yourself, but one thing is for certain: It is presuppositions that can give you a powerful edge that most people aren’t even aware of.

This is an article in the series on linguistic presuppositions. Linguistic presuppositions are powerful language patterns that can dramatically increase your ability to persuade others.

Today’s lesson is on the subordinate clause of time pattern.

A subordinate clause is when one idea in a sentence is linked to, or dependent on another idea in the same sentence. A subordinate clause of time links when temporally, or according to time. When one thing happens, another thing will automatically happen. Commonly used time words are, when, after, as soon as, once, before, prior, while, yet, etc.

Consider the difference between the following two sentences:

If I go to the store tonight, I’ll buy some apples.

And

When I go to the store tonight, I’ll buy some apples

In the first sentence, the “buying apples” part is dependent upon “going to the store,” but the “going to the store” part is not a done deal. Maybe I’ll go, maybe I won’t. Maybe it’s dependent upon something else that I haven’t mentioned.

On the other hand, the second sentence, going to the store is assumed to happen, no mater what. It has already been decided. And buying apples, which is dependent on going to the store, is already decided as well.

The best way to use this pattern is to use the thing, or idea, you are intending to persuade your audience to think or do, in the place of “going to the store,” in the above example, and then put something that most people would generally desire, in the place of “buying apples” in the above example.

Let’s look at a couple of examples:

Persuasive idea = dollar cost averaging is a good investment strategy

Generally desired outcome = make money

Linking words = (as soon as, after, once, since)

As soon as you realize that dollar cost averaging is really the best investment strategy out there, you’ll understand how easy it is to consistently make money.

Persuasive Idea = presuppositions are powerful

Desired outcome = able to easily persuade others conversationally

Linking words = after, as soon as, once

After you really appreciate how powerful presuppositions are, you’ll find that persuading people through regular conversation can become second nature.

Persuasive Idea = exercise is the best way to lose weight

Desired outcome = increased attention from the opposite sex

Linking words = as soon as, once, after

Once you understand that the easiest way to consistently lose weight is with a few minutes of exercise everyday, you’ll be surprised to notice all the additional attention you’ll be getting from (men/women/boys/girls).

You can also flip it around, and use before, prior and other words, and simply reverse the sentence.

(Before/Prior) + (desired outcome) + (intended persuasive message)

Before he started getting all kinds of massive attention from girls at school, he understood that exercise is the best way to lose weight.

Prior to making so much money in the stock market on a regular basis, he read a book explaining why dollar cost averaging is the best investment method there is.

Before he became the best salesperson at his company, he really took the time to master linguistic presuppositions, so that he could easily skyrocket his sales.

Now, I don’t know what it is you’d like persuade others to do, maybe you’re in sales, maybe you’d like to increase your social skills, or maybe you’d just like to feel more powerful and in control of the conversations you find yourself in. Whatever the reasons are, once you really take the time to learn and practice these presuppositions on a regular basis, you’ll really see an improvement not only in that particular area of your life you’d like to improve, but in many other areas as well.

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.

This article is part three in a series on using presuppositions to covert persuasion and influence. Presuppositions are one of the most powerful yet least known about methods of influence. They work by constructing a sentence that pre supposes certain things (of your choice) to be true, things that your listener or reader will not question.

Today’s topic is in the category of simple presuppositions, and is another form of noun. If you recall previous examples, we’ve covered simple nouns, names, and pronouns. Today’s nouns are of the “generic noun phrases,” or noun phrases (two or more words describing a noun) that stand for a whole class, usually people.

Like the previous examples, this won’t do you much good on it’s own, but it’s usually a good idea to take it slow when learning something new, to make sure you get the fundamentals down, so later on you can use more complex patterns much more easier and more natural.

OK, lets see some examples:

Leading doctors agree that exercise is good for health.

Top Financial Advisers recommend investing the same amount of money in the stock market every month to achieve the best long-term results.

Great companies have always known that continually developing new products is key to consistent profits.

In the above examples, “leading doctors,” “top financial advisers,” and “great companies,” are all examples of a generic noun phrase. Of course you could say “convicted felons,” “successful dictators,” or “top rated snipers,” but that might give your listeners or readers the wrong impression about your message, unless you were trying to persuade somebody NOT to do something.

Convicted felons know that once you successfully commit your first crime, it’s almost impossible to stop until you end up in jail.

You might say that to a group of high-risk kids, for example.

Usually, however, you are trying to persuade somebody to do something, rather than not do something. In this case, it’s best to choose a class that sounds somewhat authoritative on whatever topic it is you are persuading, to give your ideas some kind of “social proof,” or “authority.”

Later, when we get into more advanced, complex presuppositions, you’ll see how this one technique can be a powerful “anchor” on which to hang other techniques in your speech or copywriting that can greatly enhance your persuasive efforts.

So the pattern for generic noun phrases is:

(Adjective) + (group of authoritative sounding people)

Top scientists
Leading financial advisors
Highly regarded personal trainers
Weight loss specialists
Leading dieticians

Etc.

Next we’ll talk about one more “simple” kind of presuppositions before moving into the more powerful (and fun) “complex” kind.

The more techniques we learn, the more interesting and powerful combinations we can come up with.

This is a continuation of the series on presuppositions, and how you can use them to powerfully enhance all of your persuasive efforts to mindboggingly amazing levels of influence.

Today’s pattern is another one in the “simple presupposition” group. Names and pronouns. Similar to the noun pattern, (as names are of course nouns) they presuppose existence when they are used.

Consider the following sentence:

Mr. Jones decided that this product was the best among all that he considered.

You may wonder about why he made that decision, you may be curious about all the other products he considered, but you wouldn’t likely wonder whether or not Mr. Jones existed.

How about this one:

Shelly mentioned that this summer is going to be really hot.

Once again, you may dig into your memory for your own references regarding summer predictions, or your own experiences during hot summers, but you wouldn’t likely question whether or not Shelly exists.

On the other of the coin are pronouns. Pronouns like he, she, they, refer to people, either mentioned before, or assumed to be understood. Simply by using them, people will presuppose some person or group of persons exists. And once you’ve got an imaginary person or group of people, you can attribute all kinds of things to them.

Consider the following:

They say the best way to make money is to provide real value to people.

You would probably search for similar “truisms” in your memory, or you may consider how you can give value to people so that you could make money, but you wouldn’t likely question whether or not “they” exist.

This pattern, specifically using pronouns, doesn’t do much by itself. For example if you said, out of the blue:

He says that the best time to invest in the stock market is right before an election.

You wouldn’t likely be thinking about the markets, or elections, rather you’d probably be wondering who “he,” was. And after that point, “he” would be the focus of your thinking, which would defeat the purpose of using covert persuasive techniques.

Once we start getting into more complex presuppositions, and start combining them together, you can see how powerful they can be.

Check back for more updates, and please leave a comment if you have any questions, or requests. I’d be happy to oblige.