These structures, each conceived of as the outcome of a series of nodal relations, bear a remarkable similiarity to the patterns or rhythms adopted in cinematic narrative . Significantly, a difference between the patterns employed by cinema, and Bernstein's descriptions, is that in any cinematic example there always remains a canonical expression of the pattern as expressed by the individual film. Films by their very nature are literal, temporally controlled linear sequences, unlike what is pragmatically understood to be hypertext where multilinearity retains an ideality actively sought by many. This means, obviously, that the autonomous segments that can be formed in hypertext, while falling into many different types, also have the feature of a particular node or even minor series forming a significant part of a completely different autonomous segment. However, as Bernstein's work demonstrates, the crucial principle of what could be characterised as intelligible structure in hypertext is in fact the recognition and interpretation of autonomous segments - what Bernstein characterises as 'patterns', and Rosenberg as 'episodes'.
Similar conclusions apply to hypertext.
This suggests that Bernstein's patterns could be considered as primarily syntagmatic series, and while an effort to categorise or name the possible series is of significant value for hypertext research, it is probably more important to recognise that what is described is not peculiar to hypertext. If the patterns formed by writing or reading hypertext are thought of as primarily questions of syntagmatic chains then it becomes clear that much of the discussion about link rhetorics, particularly questions of link transparency , are in fact related to formal questions of paradigmatic association.