MEANS OF SUGGESTION

Information deletion (omission)

• Nominalisation (e.g. doing, dependance, etc.)

• Non-specific (abstract) nouns

• Non-specific (abstract) pronouns (e.g. something, one, etc.)

• Non-specific verbs (passive constructions; no subject-agent)

• Comparative / superlative constructions

Information generalization
• Universal quantifiers (e.g. all, whole, everybody, whatever, nobody, total, etc.)

• Modal operators of possibility / obligation

• Intensifiers (e.g. really, true, etc.)

Information distortion
• Presupposition (rigid background patterning) - an implicit assumption about the world or

background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse (e.g.

They no longer do smth., etc.)

• Reading thoughts (e.g. I know what you think …, etc.)

• Embedded instructions (e.g. If you do this, you will get that, etc.)
 MEANS OF SUGGESTION

Information deletion (omission)

• Nominalisation (e.g. doing, dependance, etc.)

• Non-specific (abstract) nouns

• Non-specific (abstract) pronouns (e.g. something, one, etc.)

• Non-specific verbs (passive constructions; no subject-agent)

• Comparative / superlative constructions

Information generalization
• Universal quantifiers (e.g. all, whole, everybody, whatever, nobody, total, etc.)

• Modal operators of possibility / obligation

• Intensifiers (e.g. really, true, etc.)

Information distortion
• Presupposition (rigid background patterning) - an implicit assumption about the world or

background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse (e.g.

They no longer do smth., etc.)

• Reading thoughts (e.g. I know what you think …, etc.)

• Embedded instructions (e.g. If you do this, you will get that, etc.)
 MEANS OF SUGGESTION
Information deletion (omission)
• Nominalisation (e.g. doing, dependance, etc.) A process for forming nouns from verbs (for
example, reaction from react or departure from depart) or adjectives (for
example, length from long, or eagerness from eager). Also a process for forming noun phrases
from clauses (for example, their destruction of the city from ‘they destroyed the city’).

• Non-specific (abstract) nouns (We dive deep into abstract nouns vs. concrete nouns here, but

there’s a quick and easy way to tell them apart. If you can see, hear, taste, smell, or touch it, then

it’s a concrete noun. If you can’t, then it’s an abstract noun.

Consider the difference between anger, an abstract noun, and chair, a concrete noun. You can

touch a chair and see a chair, but you can’t touch or see anger itself. (Even though you can use

your five senses to perceive the signs of anger, such as seeing a red face or hearing a gruff tone.)
• Non-specific (abstract) pronouns (e.g. something, one, etc. It, this, that, those, those, them,
their, one(s). )
• Non-specific verbs (passive constructions; no subject-agent)
• Comparative / superlative constructions (The comparative is created by doubling the
consonant and adding the suffix “–er“. The superlative is created by doubling the consonant
and adding the suffix “–est“.)
Information generalization
• Universal quantifiers (e.g. all, whole, everybody, whatever, nobody, total, etc.)
• Modal operators of possibility / obligation can/could/cannot/will/may/would/could
• Intensifiers (e.g. really, true, very/at all/too/so/rather/at all etc.)
too hot
completely hot
remarkably hot
unusually hot
incredibly hot
extremely hot
really hot
very hot
quite/rather/fairly warm
a little warm
a bit warm
not very warm
Information distortion
• Presupposition (rigid background patterning) - an implicit assumption about the world or
background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse (e.g.
They no longer do smth., etc.)
In the branch of linguistics known as pragmatics, a presupposition (or PSP) is an implicit
assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for
granted in discourse. Examples of presuppositions include: Jane no longer writes fiction.
Presupposition: Jane once wrote fiction.
• Reading thoughts (e.g. I know what you think …, etc.)
• Embedded instructions (e.g. If you do this, you will get that, etc.)