Modal Operator Challenge

Post a comment. April 26, 2010

The Modal Operator Challenge is a pattern of the Meta-Model effective at recovering the other half of the cause-effect that a sentence with a modal operator implies. Reconstructing the complete cause-effect is integral to understanding others' (and our own) models of the world and either utilizing those models or improving them.

Pattern
Outcome: 

There are two kinds of modal operators. The first are modal operators of necessity, which describe an event or action which the speaker believes must or must not be. Phrases using modal operators of necessity represent the cause of a given cause-effect. On the other hand, modal operators of possibility are used to describe an event or action which may or may not be. Phrases using modal operators of possibility represents the effect of a given cause-effect.

When we encounter modal operators, we should challenge them. What would happen if we didn't, you ask? We would lack the understanding of the speaker's map necessary to truly communicate with that person. It would be as if we only knew how to click the mouse button, but didn't know how our computer would respond to it. Or, often worse, it would be as if we saw the pointer travelling around the screen, doing things, but didn't know who or what was controlling it.

Imagine you're mother tells you "you can't go out and play" and you did not realize that what she really meant was "Because there are warring gangs shooting each other outside, you can't go out and play." Suddenly, mother seems a lot more reasonable. Indeed, by using the Modal Operator Challenge, you may have, in fact, saved your own life.

Imagine a salesman of planes using the Modal Operator Challenge to easily reframe "I can't afford to buy this plane until I fly it to know it's worth it" where before he would have been stumped at "I can't afford to buy this plane." Consider the writers of television who need to move the plot along quickly and yet realistically. A scene that could have taken three days of arguing on General Hospital in 1970 can now be resolve with a well placed choice of modal operators and challenges: "We can't get through that wall!" "What stops us?" "It's too thick for our dynamite." "But it's not too high for our jet packs!" "To the moon, Alice!" And that's how it happens.

Criteria: 

As your work with other Meta-Model challenges will confirm, assessing when to use a pattern becomes largely a matter of intuition after consciously attending to the linguistic markers which indicate the presence of specific syntactic forms.

The test for when to use the Modal Operator Challenge is definitely one of the most straightforward of all the tests. It does not rely on detecting the absence of words or the absence of specificity like many of the other deletion challenges do, and instead allows you to simply seek out a certain kind of word. In addition, the payoff for using the Modal Operator Challenge is in the same league as the results of the Nominalization Challenge, recovering, quickly, massive amounts of information with a single question.

The one potential snag of the Modal Operator Challenge is actually that it's a two-sided challenge, the form of the question used on modal operators of necessity substantially different from the question used on modal operators of possibility. The following description and your willingness to read and to understand will be what makes this challenge one of the easiest to internalize of the Meta-Model.

Modal operators are verbs which modify other verbs, though the subset we focus on with this challenge are those modal operators of necessity and possibility, two categories which share many of the same words, depending on the context. The following selection may serve as an example of the kinds of modal operators we're discussing: 'could', 'would', 'should', 'may', 'might', 'must', 'can', 'will', 'need to', 'hope to', 'wish to', 'want to', desire to', 'like to', 'have to'. Recognize that the addition of a 'to' at the end of some are to distinguish these verbs usage as modal operators from their use as regular verbs. Certain adjectives can also indicate a phrase that represents necessity or possibility. This set of words include 'necessary', 'impossible', 'possible', 'likely', 'acceptable', 'intolerable', etc.

By pausing now to generate a sentence with each of the words we've just specified, you'd be generating a plethora of information regarding the kinds of phrases that need challenging. For example, "I would leave my unhappy marriage" (possibility), "Don't feed him after midnight." (necessity), "You're behavior is intolerable." (necessity), "The problem could resolve itself." (possibility).

Distinguishing between modal operators of necessity and possibility is possibly the easiest and most necessary step. Simply consider, from the position of the speaker, whether the action or event described is possible or necessary (within the context of the speaker's model of the world, of course). Indeed, this step is as easy as asking oneself "Does the speaker consider the action possible or necessary?"

In the following examples, ask yourself that very question before reading the clarified version of each sentence. Then, after you've read the clarified sentence, notice the different forms that the resulting cause-effect can be expressed in. You will be surprised just how many of our utterances are actually unexpressed cause-effects. Prepare to amazed.

Sentence with Modal Operator Clarified Sentence
I can't stop eating. If I stop eating, I won't be myself anymore.
I would love to buy this car. I would love to buy this car, but my wife would kill me.
Remember to vote the way we say. Remember to vote the way we say or else we won't win the election.
She won't ever be a great dancer. Unless she practices as much as the other girls, she won't ever be a great dancer.
You've got to turn the crank. If you don't turn the crank, you'll break the rules!

You may have noticed, particularly if you're concerned with formal logic, that some of the not-standard forms presented above would not translate as X -> Y. For instance, sentence three (with the 'but') would translate from X but Y to ~Y -> X. This matters little for our purposes except to remind you to maintain an awareness of which phrase of a cause-effect sentence is the cause and which is the effect.

Now that you have the necessary understanding of each step, here is a test you can use to determine the presence of each kind of modal operators:

  1. Listen to the surface structure of the presented sentence.
  2. Identify the modal operators in the surface structure by asking this question:
    • "Does this verb modify another verb?"
  3. Determine whether the words are modal operators of necessity or possibility using the following question:
    • "Does this word indicate the action is possible or necessary?"
  4. Additionally, check for adjectives that indicate necessity or possibility.
Pattern: 

Chances are, when a user of the Meta-Model gets stuck in his questioning, the Modal Operator Challenge will be of great use. The reason for this is that deletion of an entire half of a cause-effect statement is where the speaker gets stuck as well. After the Modal Operator Challenge, you will often find countless markers which signal the use of further patterns, the most important of the bunch, in this context, being the Cause-Effect Challenge.

  1. Listen to the surface structure of the presented sentence.
  2. Determine which verbs are modal operators and determine if they indicate necessity or possibility.
  3. Use the correct set of questions:
    • Necessity. Recover the missing effect using one of the following forms:
      • What would happen if you did/didn't _MODAL PHRASE_?
      • _MODAL PHRASE_ or else what?
    • Possibility. Recover the missing cause using one of the following forms:
      • What stops you from _MODAL PHRASE_?
      • What allows you to _MODAL PHRASE_?
      • _MODAL PHRASE_ or else what?
  4. Repeat step 3 until you recover all relevant, deleted information.
Examples: 

In reading the following examples notice which modal operators are challenged and which are ignored. When using the Meta-Model, staying focused on your outcome and taking the most direct path to it in a natural way are the mark of a true adept.

Focus:
I just can't stop eating.
User:
Really? What stops you?
Focus:
Well... I just can't.
User:
Either you won't or you can't for a reason. Which is it?
Focus:
Well... I guess I won't stop eating then.
User:
Ah! That makes much more sense. Now what would happen if you did?
Focus:
Hmm... Well, I guess I wouldn't be myself anymore.
User:
I wonder if you recognize who you'd be if you do, but I'd rather ask what stops you from being yourself when you stop eating.
Focus:
Because then I wouldn't be a fat cow.
User:
A fat cow! Your genes would not fit a fat cow, let me tell you.
Focus:
True.
User:
Before now, did you notice that you weren't yourself the whole time you were overeating?
Focus:
No, I didn't.
User:
Because technically, if you weren't yourself before, then by eating the healthy amount, who are you?
Focus:
I'm me.
User:
Say that again, I forgot what you just understand...
Focus:
If I eat healthy, then I'm me.
User:
Lucky you! I used to know this girl who had it all backwards.
Focus:
I would love to buy this car.
User:
What would happen if you did?
Focus:
Man, I'd be gettin' me some fine muff!
User:
O.K. So what stops you from buying it?
Focus:
My wife would kill me if I did.
User:
So if your wife didn't kill you?
Focus:
I'd be driving down Broadway with two blonds and a fat blunt.
User:
Well that's... That's... Really something. So either you don't buy the car and you get your wife or you do buy the car and you get two blonds, eh?
Focus:
Shit, man. You're a great salesman. I'll take it. To hell with the old bird.
User:
You'll remember I also do marriage counseling, won't you?
Focus:
You better remember!
User:
Remember what?
Focus:
Remember to vote the way we say.
User:
Or else what?
Focus:
Or else we won't win the election!
User:
What would happen if you didn't?
Focus:
Well, if we didn't win, you won't get any of the stuff we promised.
User:
Makes sense. So what would happen if we didn't get any of that stuff?
Focus:
I suppose the world would be in a much worse place.
User:
That's a big stretch from voting on this year's office theme party.
Focus:
It's a very important party.
Focus:
I do love my daughter.
User:
But...
Focus:
But she won't ever be a great dancer.
User:
What blocks her from being a great dancer?
Focus:
Well, unless she practices as much as the other girls, she won't ever be a great dancer.
User:
So she has the option...
Focus:
Sure! She doesn't have to practice...
User:
But if she doesn't, what happens?
Focus:
Huh... Hmm...
User:
Tell me.
Focus:
Well, if she doesn't practice, I yell at her.
User:
So what you're saying is unless she's a great dancer, you yell at her?
Focus:
Uhh...
User:
But she hasn't ever been a great dancer...
Focus:
Hmmph.
User:
The shape of your mouth makes me think you're self satisfied, but your eyes make me think you're full of shame.
Focus:
No, I'm just full of shame.
User:
So is your daughter.
Focus:
She doesn't have to dance.
User:
And what would happen if she doesn't?
Focus:
I'll love her anyway.
Focus:
You've got to turn the crank.
User:
What would happen if I did?
Focus:
It snaps the plank.
User:
And what happens if that happens?
Focus:
It boots the marble right down the chute.
User:
And then?
Focus:
Then you watch it roll and hit the pole and knock the ball into the rub-a-dub tub which flips the man into the pan...
User:
The trap is set.
Focus:
Here comes the bet.
User:
Yeah... So what would happen if I didn't turn the crank?
Focus:
Rats!
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