  We use the cluster method to enumerate permutations avoiding consecutive
patterns. We reprove and generalize in a unified way several known results and
obtain new ones, including some patterns of length 4 and 5, as well as some
infinite families of patterns of a given shape. By enumerating linear
extensions of certain posets, we find a differential equation satisfied by the
inverse of the exponential generating function counting occurrences of the
pattern. We prove that for a large class of patterns, this inverse is always an
entire function. We also complete the classification of consecutive patterns of
length up to 6 into equivalence classes, proving a conjecture of Nakamura.
Finally, we show that the monotone pattern asymptotically dominates (in the
sense that it is easiest to avoid) all non-overlapping patterns of the same
length, thus proving a conjecture of Elizalde and Noy for a positive fraction
of all patterns.
