E` or E-Prime

[Acriku]

Hey guys, I feel great to bring to you another topic. One thing has changed in my sentences, though. Can you guess that change? Do you find yourself still trying to figure it out? Come on, it should appear obvious by now. Perhaps a hint? It may appear to you that I have excluded a few words from my writings. You still do not have it? I have excluded entirely, any form of the verb, "to be."

Benjamin Lee Whorf's principle of linguistic relativity states that the structure of the language you use influences the way you perceive "reality," as well as how you behave with respect to that perceived reality.

I can give you thousands of examples explaining how using "am, are, is, was, were" reduces the number of assumptions found in a common sentence.

But don't let E-Prime stand with just the exclusion of the verb "to be." It consists of a more descriptive and extensionally oriented derivative of English (1)

To use an example, : You see a person staggering, reeking of alcohol, across the street. You might think to yourself:

The man is drunk.

But this sentence follows the assumption that the man "is" drunk. It only appears he is drunk. You could have encountered an actor playing drunk in a movie, or spilt alcohol over himself from a spasm or seizure. Try writing in E-Prime, excluding all forms of "to be," and if you have that down try speaking that way.

Try this example, formulate what using E-Prime would say instead, and try to see the assumption(s) in it.

The tree is short.

Many politicians use the verb "to be" to provide lies, distortions, and other dishonest methods to convince the listener. (2)

Using E-Prime, you can provide a more direct description, expression, opinion, etc. Look into it, researching into it brings a better understanding of the power behind E-Prime and how it can affect your thinking abilities. Enjoy :)*

(*I mean for all accidental usages of the verb "to be" unintentional)

For more information, go to:

SPEAKING IN E-PRIME

TOWARD UNDERSTANDING E -PRIME

E-Prime Intro

Google search on "E-Prime"

[IxianMace]

?_?

[AWACS]

?_?

Damn right

[FireSnake]

To the starter of this thread ... ... ... ... ...

...

W H A A A ?????? ??? ??? ???

- Matthew

[Cyborg]

Quite interesting, Acriku.

I have not thought of that before, nor noticed you excluding it from your posts.

However, I totally agree with your post.

Example:

If a guy is writing something:

Using the verb to be: He is writing something. I don't state what he writes, so I am totally correct and quite precise.

However, I could say: It seems like he is writing a letter. That way, I would be a bit more precise without a chance of being wrong, but I would also taking a guess at what he is actually doing.

To exclude the verb to be, will make your sentence less "imperativistic", so to say, and may shows signs of a rich vocabulary(if you aren't repeating the "replacement verbs" too much).

Good one, Acriku! :)

[nemafakei]

Hm.

As a general rule, I tend to speak and write in what is more or less 'E-Prime'. But the omission of the verb to be should not be made a cornerstone of the language, on account of its many uses in other than the most basic terms, which 'E-prime' seems to be trying to avoid.

[Cyborg]

However, I'd like to still use these sentences:

What is your name?

How are you?

And other similar sentences.