Comparative Deletions are similar to Lost Performatives where a comparison is
made, but it is not specified to what (or whom) the comparison is being made.
Whereas a Lost Performative relates to the person making the judgment being
left out, instead of a Comparative Deletion which refers to leaving out what is
being compared to.
A few examples of Comparative Deletion are as follows…
“Things aren’t that good.”
“It really didn’t go as well.”
“It might as well be the right thing.”
Your listener will more than likely find themselves agreeing to these types of
statements, because it’s extremely difficult to disagree with it because of the
sheer vagueness of it all (notice the ‘it’ there?). It’s very hard for someone to disagree with someone when they don’t know what it’s being compared to – in
fact, it’s nearly impossible! You’ll find this technique very useful when trying to persuade others (or yourself) to do something.
If you’re out at lunch and someone says, “I don’t want to eat that, it’ll make me put on weight.” You could use a comparative deletion in your sentence by saying,
“Isn’t it interesting how they always tend to say this and that about food, yet we all know they are lying because it’s all about feeling good inside, and that doesn’t come from what we eat, but rather, just from enjoying each moment as it
comes.” There’s a lot of comparative deletions in there (and a few other patterns just for fun), but the key point I’m sharing here, is that when we become aware of BOOST YOUR BODY-IMAGE WITH NLP – NICKRITCHIELIVE.COM
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the deletions we are making, we can start to use them for many more positive
outcomes.