Predictive linguistic theory generates a rich pattern of implications tying together the well- and ill-formedness of linguistic structures. Visible extensionally as restrictions on the kinds of processes and optima that can and cannot co-exist within a grammar, such implications emerge from the constraint ranking patterns that lead to optimality and failure. The Elementary Ranking Condition supports a set of practical tools for digging systematic implications out of data as construed by grammatical assumptions. This paper discussses a variety of concrete cases and places them in their analytical context. No background in the relevant notions and techniques is assumed.