Practical English Grammar 105Beyond basic grammar: Connections with the‘real’ world Conversational postulates (Grice) In 1967 (published in 1975) Grice wrote about the "rules of conversation". The rules are, of course, notreally rules at all but rather are a set of conventions that can be used to characterize the interaction which takesplace during a conversation.Grice (1967; 1975xxx) Rules of conversation:1. Quantity: Be as informative as required.Be no more informative than required.2. Quality: Say only what you believe to be true.3. Relevance: Be relevant.4. Manner: Be perspicuous (clear).Don't be ambiguous.Don't be obscure.Be succinct.Of course, Grice's rules seem to characterize an ideal conversation in which the sole objective is thetransfer of information. As Lakoff pointed out in one of her articles, the transfer of information is often second-ary to what I would term "phatic" communication—politeness, making the other person feel good, building andmaintaining bonds, etc. Thus, when there is a conflict between information transfer and politeness, politenessoften wins out. A psychiatrist's transcript (Bandler and Grinder) Bandler, Richard and John Grinder. 1975. The structure of magic: a book about language and therapy.Introductions by Virginia Satir and Gregory Bateson. Volume 1. Palo Alto: Science and Behavior Books, Inc.Pp. 112-134.Graham Thurgood (English121) 106 Generalization There is a very real sense in which it can be said that we do not act in response to the ‘real’, butinstead we act in response to our own personalized models of the real world. As long as there is a fairlyclose match between our idealized perception of reality and ‘reality’, the fact that we act on the basis of ourown idealized perceptions causes no intolerable problems. However, when for whatever reasons, our ideal-ized perceptions of reality do not match well with the actual facts, there is considerable potential for trouble.When we create our own models of the world it is through a process of generalization. However,the same process of generalization that creates a manageable model of the world at the same time creates asomewhat impoverished model. That is our generalized model may lack the full detail and full richness ofour experiences. Since we often react not on the basis of our experiences in the real world but on the basis ofour own generalizations about our experiences, an overly and misleadingly generalized model may cause usproblems. For instance, the specific experience "Lois doesn't like me" may generalize to "Women don't likeme." (p. 80-82)In therapy, the purpose of challenging the client's generalizations is to:(1) Re-connect the client's model with his experience.(2) Reduce the insurmountable obstacles which result from overgeneralizations by replacingthese with more specific, more definite experiences which can be coped with.(3) Provide a model with more detail, more richness, and more options, thus creating choices forthe client which were previously "unthinkable". The process of clarifying the client's model naturally precedes the process of challenging themodel. This process of clarification involves (1) replacing generalizations with specifics that is, replacingterms which have no specific, real world referent with terms possessing a referent in the real world and (2)making statements (and thus the model) less vague through asking the client to specify information that wasleft unspecified. What is of interest to us as students of language is not the therapy itself—that is beyond the scopeof the class and, I might add, beyond the expertise of the instructor—but rather the insights that the materialsprovide into how we use (and misuse) language. Using the material below, we intend to deal with the fol-lowing topics: 1. Referentiality.2. Mind reading.3. Presuppositions.4. Deletions: Restoring the "missing" parts. 1. Terms without a clear referent. Referential or not . Sometimes the terms we use do not refer to actual entities in the real world;instead, the terms are being used to talk about not our experiences but about our mental model of the world.At other times, the reference is simply too vague to be understood without further clarification. In the mate-rial below, sometimes the therapist is able to connect the non-referential terms with referents in the realworld.Graham Thurgood (English121) 107Examine the underlined words in the following sentences. Notice that some of these are generali-zations which have no real world referent. These terms need to be replaced by terms that have a referent inthe real world. Other terms (or phrases) are so vague that it is not clear whether they lack a real world refer-ent or if the reference to the real world is just too vague to allow identification. In either case, further spec-ification of the term may be called for.(1) Nobody pays any attention to what I say. (2) I always avoid situations I feel uncomfortable in.(3) I like dogs that are friendly.(4) I saw my mother-in-law yesterday.(5) One should respect others' feelings.(6) It's painful for us to see her this way, you know.(7) Let's not get bogged down in details.(8) There's a certain feeling in this room.(9) Everybody feels that way sometimes.[Answers: 1. Nobody and what have no referent. 2. The referent for situations I feel uncomfortable in isunclear. 3. Dogs that are friendly has no referent. 4. Both I and my mother-in-law have a referent. 5. One,others', and feelings have no referent. 6. It, us, and this way are unclear in one way or another. 7. Details hasno referent. 8. A certain feeling does not have a clear referent. 9. Everybody and sometimes lack a realworld referent, while that way is unclear.] 2. Mind reading Mind reading . Sometimes we report as real, things that we cannot possibly know except indi-rectly, particularly when reporting how others feel about things. Such reports are often little more than mindreading. Bandler and Grinder have an interesting category of verbs they term 'mind reading' verbs. Theseverbs "involve the belief on the part of the speaker that one person can know what another person is thinkingand feeling without a direct communication on the part of the