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Persuasive Language: A Primer On Linguistic Presuppositions
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In the classic book Science and Sanity, Alfred Korzybski wrote:
“The map is not the territory.”
No map shows all details of the land it represents. Maps distort, delete, and generalize the terrain.
For example, a road map:
Distorts the land by making terrain a flat sheet of paper that is a smaller representation of reality.
Deletes all information that isn’t necessary for a road map (elevation, geological information, buildings, etc.).
Generalizes information to make it easier for you to understand (all four lane roads have the same type of line
and color).
We do the same thing with language. In order to easily share information we have to remove many details. We distort,
delete, and generalize our communication.
What Are Presuppositions?
Persuasive language isn’t a list of “power words” given to you
by your favorite guru. Persuasive language slips by when you
use distortions, deletions, and generalizations in your
language. Your Presuppositions.
Everything you write and say has multiple assumptions built
into it. You can’t speak without assuming something exists or is
caused by something else. This is natural.
You – the communicator or the listener – take these
assumptions unconsciously and interpret them into some
meaning. Your unconscious translates them into an experience
and you don’t have to think about it (consciously).
But you want to think about the presuppositions you’re
using. When you use them effectively you’ll create
communication that slides by conscious resistance. The
conscious mind of whoever you’re influencing won’t be aware
of what’s happening. You’ll help him believe, do, understand,
etc. without his conscious realizing what’s occurred.
Presuppositions are what’s unspoken and has to be true in order for your sentence to make sense.
This may seem a little like mind control. And it can be. Most of this comes from the work of Milton Erickson, the

2. legendary conversational hypnotist. However, it’s not a quick fix. You won’t change someone’s mind with just one
sentence. If you did, it’s only because that single sentence came after hundreds of others.
A harsh example of how ideas are layered into your language.
When did you stop beating your wife?
This is obvious because it creates a knee jerk reaction in most people. The things presupposed are blatant and
(hopefully) not true. Think about it, what’s presupposed in that sentence?
1. It assumes you beat your wife in the past and it happened over a period of time.
2. You stopped beating your wife.
3. I knew about both.
4. You have a wife and you’re capable of beating her.
5. You will answer this question.
If you were asked that question, and you never beat your wife, you would have a bad reaction. The unconscious
assumptions won’t be accepted and violate your “reality.”
Persuasive Language Goes Beyond Simple Words
While the above example is rough, I use it because it obviously violates what would be accepted as true by your
unconscious.
As I said before, presuppositions allow you to influence without involving conscious resistance. You’ll be able to slip
ideas past the guard.
If you don’t understand how presuppositions work, you can pass ideas which will hurt your persuasive message. Your
language could create doubt, confusion, and other problems that will stop your customers from moving ahead.
I’ve read sales letters and heard presentations where 80% of the message lined up just right. It’s a straight shot to
influence the customer. But, there was 20% there that will kill the deal. The 20% which doesn’t line up, because they
accidentally presupposed the wrong things, invalidates the 80%. And they lose.
Categories and Examples of Linguistic Presuppositions
Presuppositions have a unique structure so you can identify what you’re using and how it alters perceptions. Use them
with deliberate intention.
Linguistic Presuppositions Of Existence
Presuppositions of existence are the most basic and obvious form. In the “When did you stop beating your wife?”
example I pointed out how it assumes you and your wife exist. These are obvious.
Deeper in the structure, your marriage and the fact you had the ability to beat your wife are also presupposed to exist.
By assuming they exist it allows you to focus on the content of the action
Adverb and Adjective Linguistic Presuppositions
Adverbs modify verbs. You can usually identify them as words ending in -ly.

3. You’ll quickly learn to use these after reading this article.
You’ll easily notice adverbs in this article now.
Adjectives modify other nouns and pronouns in your sentence. They modify the people, places, and things your
speaking about.
This is a fun subject to understand.
This may seem like a mysterious subject but you’ll understand it with some practice.
How do adjectives and adverbs work for persuasion? Even if you disagree with the adjective or adverb in the sentence
(”I won’t learn this quickly.”) you still accept what’s modified (”you’ll learn this”). It changes the focus from the verb or
noun to the modifier and presupposes the verb/noun will happen/exists and bypasses any conscious resistance.
Linguistic Presuppositions of Awareness
You can identify presuppositions of awareness with words like notice, aware, realize, understand, experience, among
others.
Are you aware of how much easier your life will be when you learn to use these?
When you realize this is only the surface of how these work, you’ll notice their elegance in persuasion.
Notice how these examples force you to bring your awareness to what I want you to believe. I’m not asking you if your
life will be easier after learning these. I’m asking you if you’re aware of how much easier your life will be after learning
these. Whether you say “Yes, I’m aware” or “No, I wasn’t aware of that,” you’ve bought the underlying statement “your
life will be easier after learning these.”
Time and Ordinal Linguistic Presuppositions
Time and ordinal are slightly different but use many similar words in their use. You can identify these with words like:
Before, during, after, later, first, second, last, etc.
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These all assume something happened before, during, or after the event mentioned. In the last example, I mention the
second thing you’ll do after signing up. This assumes you’re going to sign up and do the first.
Cause and Effect Presuppositions
These are one of my favorites because cause and effect is the linguistic structure of beliefs. You can identify these in
sentences where X causes Y. Or replace ‘causes’ with: because, forces, allows, makes, and other words implying a
cause/effect relationship between parts.
Using persuasive language effectively allows you to sell easily and confidently.
Simply reading these examples will cause you to notice their use everywhere around you.
Because you’re smart, you’ll notice the different ways you can write a cause and effect sentence.
You can also use implied cause and effect. These are a little more subtle and still have the same bite. Instead of X
causing Y, the structure of implied cause and effect is similar to “As X, Y.”

4. (cause) As you read these examples, (effect) you’ll notice them being used everywhere in your life.
As you think about ways to use these in your life, you’ll find yourself becoming more curious to what’s possible.
Cause and effect is fun. Anything can cause something else (when you set it up correctly). If you noticed in the
examples, for the cause I used things like “reading the examples,” thinking, and “you’re smart.” Would you have
thought about questioning how reading, thinking, or you being a smart person had anything to do with the effect?
Probably not. And if you did, it’s because the sentences are alone and not used in a specific context.
Complex Equivalence Linguistic Presuppositions
Complex Equivalence is similar to Cause and Effect. They also contain the linguistic structure of how we speak our
beliefs. Instead of X causes Y, the pattern is identified by X equals or means Y. It’s used with words like: means,
equals, is (and other forms of the verb “to be”).
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Again, similar to Cause and Effect, anything can mean or equal something else. They allow you to link unrelated ideas
in a way that’s hard to argue with (Or, the ideas were unrelated until you brought them together in this way).
Linguistic Presuppositions of Possibility and Necessity
In linguistics these are identified by “Modal Operators.” Modal Operators are verbs that modify other verbs. I lump
them into two categories: Possibility and Necessity.
Modal Operators of Possibility are: Can, Could, Able to, Choose to, Might, etc.
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You might understand the basics after reading this. I highly recommend practicing so you can feel the impact of
how they work.
Modal Operators of Necessity are: Should, Must, Have to, Need, Want to.
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A person must practice the basics to become a true master of their craft.
These can raise resistance in your customer when used incorrectly. I’m sure you’ve experienced someone telling you
how you “need” to do something and you reply, “Oh yeah. I need to do that, huh?” Make sure you’ve worked your way
up to a point where you can say, “you need to do this.”
The Exclusive/Inclusive “Or” Linguistic Presupposition
I don’t know if you’ll find this one really obvious or if you’ll be simply identify it very easily? It involves using the word
“or.” With it you’re able to present options, or what seem like options to your customer, by including or excluding what
you want him to choose.
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Do you understand how powerful presuppositions can be or are you merely beginning to realize their power in
persuasion?
This is a beautiful way to let your customer think he’s making a choice when he’s not. Either option he agrees to
means he’s agreeing to what you want him to do.

5. The first example doesn’t ask you if you want to sign up. It asks you to tell me when you’re going to sign up, before or
after finishing this article. Did you notice what is presupposed in the second example? (hint: Presuppositions are
powerful!)
The Drawback
At first glance you might have thought these were ridiculous and wouldn’t convince anyone. You would’ve been right.
They won’t work as stand alone sentences.
All language and meaning comes from the context of your communication. You have to build rapport to stretch these.
You can also realize how these patterns are used naturally in your daily language. Everything you’ve read in this article
(or anywhere today) contains many presuppositions.
Exercise
Before you wonder how you would use these in “real life,” spend some time and write 5 to 10 sentences for each of the
presuppositions. Naturally, I would recommend you write more, maybe 20-30 each for several days, to deeply
familiarize your unconscious with the process. However, start with what you can. Begin with something so you can
really learn how they alter your effect.
Don’t worry about being elegant. That will come with practice. Create long, drawn out sentences. After you’ve written
some from each category, start combining multiple patterns.
Just write.
Let it be rough and nasty. Then step back and notice the rough edges. You need a rough stone before you can polish it
into a beautiful gem.
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