Category: Presuppositions

Punctuation is unexpected yet does not ‘follow the rules’, i.e. improper pauses, connected sentences, incomplete sentences – all of which ultimately force the listener to interpreter or ‘mind read’ what the speaker is saying in an attempt to understand. “Hand me your watch how quickly you go into a deep sleep.”

Scope is when the context does not reveal the scope to which a verb or modifier applies. “Speaking to you as a changed person …” (Who is the changed person?) or “The old men and women …”

Syntactic refers to a statement with more than one possible meaning. “shooting stars” or “leadership shows” — the syntax is uncertain within the context — is it referring to adjectives, verbs or nouns?

Phonological are words with the same sound yet different meanings, such as “your” and “you’re”.

Selectional Restriction Violation is the act of attributing intelligence or animation to inanimate objects. “Your chair can support you as you relax and enjoy yourself.” or “Your journal tells interesting stories.”

An Extended Quote is a embedded context for the delivery of information that may be in the format of a command. “Many years ago, I met a retired army Sargent who taught me many useful things. He said to me “Change is easy and can be fun”.”

An Unspecified Verb implies action without describing how the action has or will take place. “He caused the problem.”

Once some degree of rapport is established, this presupposition subtly leverages a resistant behavior as a consequence to the desired action. “The more you try to resist going into a trance, the more you find your eyes wanting to shut all by themselves.”