When and How to Use 'when' and 'as'

Penny Tompkins and James Lawley

We often deal with big chunk topics at The Developing Group (e.g. Emergence, Constructivism, Self-Decption, etc.) so this time we’ve decided to focus on a particular part of the Symbolic Modelling process: the use of ‘when/as'.  ‘When’ and ’as’ one of the primary ways to cleanly invite clients to attend to an aspect of their perception of their Metaphor Landscape.


On the day we will be investigating how ‘when’/’as’ can be used:

• To enhance the effectiveness of your questions by more precisely directing the client’s attention
• To specify or frame the context in which the question is ansked
• In a variety of ways
• At different times in the process.

In addition, we’ll look at other words that can be used in place of ‘when’ and ’as’ and the effect of using these variations to the standard Clean Language syntax.

In preparation for the day, please consider when and how you already use ‘when/as’, and what you seek to achieve when you use these words.

Uses of when:

1.	At what time?	When is he due?
2.	Over what period?	An age when men were men.
3.	At a time at which; just as; after	I found it easy when I tried
4.	Although	He drives when he might walk
5.	Considering the fact that	How did you pass when you hadn’t studied?

Uses of as:

1.	While or when (Often preceded by ‘just’)	He caught me as I was leaving.
2.	In the way that	Dancing as only she can.
3.	That which; what	I did as I was told.
4.	(Of) Which fact, event, etc	To become wise, as we all know, is not easy.
5.	Since; seeing that
6.	In the same way that	He died of cancer, as his father had done.
7.	For instance	Capital cities, as London...
8.	Indicates identify of extent, amount	She is as heavy as her sister.
9.	In the role of; being	As his friend, I am probably biased.