The Meta Model is a set of language patterns, and questions that reconnect the deletions, distortions and generalisations with the experience that generated them. (We all use filter systems of deletion, distortion and generalisation in order to make sense of the mass of information that we receive from our senses.)
NLP Practitioners and therapists use the Meta Model both to spot language patterns, and to ask questions that help to move someone beyond the words, back to the experience that created them. That might be about gathering more information, clarifying meaning, challenging generalisations to identify limitations, and generating choices.