View source for E-Prime

{{Short description|Modified form of English that eliminates all forms of the word "to be"}}
{{Distinguish|Eprhyme}}
'''E-Prime''' (short for '''English-Prime''' or '''English Prime''',<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Cascini |editor-first=Gaetano |title=TRIZ Future Conference 2004: Florence, 3-5 November 2004 |publisher=Firenze University Press |date=2004 |isbn=88-8453-220-5 |url=http://digital.casalini.it/8884532205 |access-date=15 June 2017}}</ref> sometimes '''É''' or '''E′''') denotes a [[Constrained writing|restricted form]] of English in which authors avoid all forms of the verb ''[[Copula (linguistics)#English|to be]]''.

E-Prime excludes forms such as ''be'', ''being'', ''been'', [[present tense|present tense forms]] (''am'', ''is'', ''are''), [[past tense|past tense forms]] (''was'', ''were'') along with their negative contractions (''isn't'', ''aren't'', ''wasn't'', ''weren't''), and nonstandard contractions such as ''ain't'' and '''twas''. E-Prime also excludes [[Contraction (grammar)|contractions]] such as ''I'm'', ''we're'', ''you're'', ''he's'', ''she's'', ''it's'', ''they're'', ''there's'', ''here's'', ''where's'', ''when's'', ''why's'', ''how's'', ''who's'', ''what's'', and ''that's''.

Some scholars claim that E-Prime can clarify thinking and strengthen writing,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ctlow.ca/E-Prime/zimmerman.html |title=E-Prime as a Revision Strategy |access-date=2009-01-10 |last=Zimmerman |first=Daniel |date=Fall 2001 |work=ETC: A Review of General Semantics 58.3 |pages=340–347 |quote=Using E-Prime, I require students to paraphrase about half their sentences—admittedly, in a special way, but using as stylistic models the best of the rest of their sentences, already written in 'native' E-Prime. The more gracefully and effectively they learn to do this, the more they begin to sound like themselves as writers, rather than like all the other writers around them sound about half the time.}}</ref> while others doubt its utility.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=French |first1=James D. |title=The Top Ten Arguments Against E-Prime |journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics |date=1992 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=175–179 |jstor=42582343 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42582343 |access-date=4 October 2023}}</ref>

==History==
D. David Bourland Jr., who had studied under [[Alfred Korzybski]], devised E-Prime as an addition to Korzybski's [[general semantics]] in the late 1940s.<ref>[[Cullen Murphy]], "Just curious: essays", 1995, ISBN, 039570099X [https://archive.org/details/justcuriousessay00murp <!-- quote="David Bourland" prime. --> p. 78]</ref> Bourland published the concept in a 1965 essay entitled "A Linguistic Note: Writing in E-Prime" (originally published in ''General Semantics Bulletin''). The essay quickly generated controversy within the general semantics field,<ref>{{cite book | last1=Johnston | first1=P.D. | last2=Bourland | first2=D.D. | last3=Klein | first3=J. | title=More E-prime: To be Or Not II | publisher=International Society for General Semantics | year=1994 | isbn=978-0-918970-40-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uXOzfqfcW-0C&pg=PR12 | access-date=2021-02-07}}</ref> partly because practitioners of general semantics sometimes saw Bourland as attacking the verb {{'}}''to be''{{'}} as such, and not just certain usages.

Bourland collected and published three volumes of essays in support of his innovation. The first (1991), co-edited by Paul Dennithorne Johnston, bore the title: ''To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology''.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last= Bourland|editor1-first= D. David|editor2-last= Johnston|editor2-first= Paul Dennithorne |title=To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology |year=1991 |publisher=International Society for General Semantics |location=San Francisco |isbn=0-918970-38-5 |page=185}}</ref> For the second, ''More E-Prime: To Be or Not II'', published in 1994, he added a third editor, Jeremy Klein. Bourland and Johnston then edited a third book, ''E-Prime III: a third anthology'', published in 1997.

==Functions of "to be"==
In English, the verb 'to be' (also known as the ''[[copula (linguistics)|copula]]'') has several distinct functions:

* [[Identity (philosophy)|identity]]: ''noun-phrase copula definite-noun''
** ''The cat is my only pet.''
* [[Class (philosophy)|class membership]]: ''definite-noun copula noun-phrase''
** ''Garfield is a cat.''
* [[Class (philosophy)|class inclusion]]: ''noun-phrase copula noun-phrase''
** ''A cat is an animal.''
* [[Predicate (grammar)|predication]]: ''noun-phrase copula adjective''
** ''The cat is furry.''
* [[Possessive|ownership]]: ''noun-phrase copula possessive-noun''
** ''The cat is theirs.''
* [[Auxiliary verb|auxiliary]]: ''noun-phrase copula verb-phrase''
** ''The cat is sleeping.''{{snd}} with the copula being part of the [[Continuous and progressive aspects|progressive aspect]] with the [[Participle#Forms|present participle]]
** ''The cat is being bitten by the dog.''{{snd}} with the copula being part of the [[English passive voice|passive]] with the [[Participle#Forms|past participle]] of a [[transitive verb]]
* [[existence]]: ''medial-proadverb-of-location copula noun-phrase''
** ''There is a cat.''
* [[Location (geography)|location]]: ''noun-phrase copula location-phrase''
** ''The cat is nowhere to be found.''

Bourland sees specifically the "identity" and "predication" functions as pernicious but advocates the exclusion of all forms for the sake of simplicity. In the case of the "existence" form or the "location" form, terms such as  ''exist'', ''sit'' or ''lie'' could substitute for the copula.

Some [[ergative verb]]s may substitute the copula, including ''taste'', ''feel'', ''smell'', ''sound'', ''grow'', ''hinge'', ''remain'', ''rest'', ''stay'', ''reside'', and ''turn'', among others.<ref>Miller, Sally. “SEVENTH AND NINTH GRADE WRITING EXERCISES: Candy, Biographies, and E-Prime.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics, vol. 56, no. 1, 1999, pp. 91–101. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42579866. Accessed 7 Feb. 2021.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|editor1-last = Bourland|editor1-first = D. David|editor2-last = Johnston|editor2-first = Paul Dennithorne|title=E-Prime III! : a third anthology |year=1997 |publisher=International Society for General Semantics |location=Concord, California |isbn=0-918970-46-6 }}</ref>

==Examples==
{| border="0" style="padding:8px; border: solid silver 1px"
|-
!Colloquial English
!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
!E-Prime
|-
|colspan="3"|
----
|-
|| The electron is a particle.
||&nbsp;
|| The electron functions as a particle.
|-
|| The electron is a wave.
||&nbsp;
|| The electron functions as a wave.
|}

One could rewrite the functions of "to be" as follows:

* "The cat is my only pet": "I have only a pet cat".
* "The cat is Garfield": "I call my cat Garfield".
* "Garfield is a cat": "Garfield belongs to the cat species".
* "A cat is an animal": "'Cat' denotes an animal".
* "The cat is furry": "The cat feels furry" / "The cat looks furry" / "The cat has fur".
* "The cat is sleeping": "The cat currently lies asleep".
* "The dog is chasing the cat": "At present, the dog chases the cat".
* "There is a cat": "A cat exists".
* "The cat is on the mat": "The cat currently sits on the mat".
* "The cat is here": anything context-specific: "I see/hear/smell/sense/suspect (the presence of) the cat here"

==Rationale==
{{further information|Alfred Korzybski#"To be"}}

Bourland and other advocates also suggest that use of E-Prime leads to a less [[dogma]]tic style of language that reduces the possibility of misunderstanding or conflict.<ref>{{cite journal |first=D. David Jr. |last=Bourland |title=To be or not to be: E-Prime as a tool for critical thinking |url=http://www.esgs.org/uk/art/epr1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103161605/http://www.esgs.org/uk/art/epr1.htm |archive-date=2008-01-03 |journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics |volume=46 |issue=3 |year=1989 |publisher=Institute of General Semantics |pages=202–211 |quote=In writing and talking {{bracket|E‑Prime}} provides a method for materially reducing ‘the human misunderstanding’. |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="SS1">{{cite web |last=Lundin |first=Leigh |title=Professional Tips: To Be or Not |date=2013-03-03 |location=Miami |url=http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/03/professional-tips-to-be-or-not.html |work=On É |publisher=SleuthSayers}}</ref>

Kellogg and Bourland describe misuse of the verb ''to be'' as creating a "deity mode of speech", allowing "even the most ignorant to transform their opinions magically into god-like pronouncements on the nature of things".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Working with E-Prime: Some Practical Notes |journal=Et Cetera |last1=Kellogg |first1=E. W. |last2=Bourland Jr. |first2=D. David |year=1990 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=376–392 |jstor=42577258 |url=http://www.generalsemantics.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/articles/etc/47-4-kellogg-bourland.pdf |access-date=2015-04-06}}</ref>

==Psychological effects==

While teaching at the [[University of Florida]], [[Alfred Korzybski]] counseled his students to
<blockquote>eliminate the infinitive and verb forms of "to be" from their vocabulary, whereas a second group continued to use "I am," "You are," "They are" statements as usual. For example, instead of saying, "I am depressed," a student was asked to eliminate that emotionally primed verb and to say something else, such as, "I feel depressed when ..." or "I tend to make myself depressed about ..."<ref name="Ellis 2010">{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Albert | author-link=Albert Ellis |title=Albert Ellis: Evolution of a Revolution |publisher=Barricade Books |year=2010}}</ref></blockquote>

Korzybski observed improvement "of one full letter grade" by "students who did not generalize by using that infinitive".<ref name="Ellis 2010"/>

[[Albert Ellis]] advocated the use of E-Prime when discussing psychological distress to encourage framing these experiences as temporary (see also [[Solution focused brief therapy]]) and to encourage a sense of agency by specifying the subject of statements.<ref name="EllisFeeling2">{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Albert | author-link=Albert Ellis  |title=Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better: Profound Self-Help Therapy |publisher=Impact Publishers |year=2001 |page=2 |isbn=9781886230354 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLtw0YB8ZBsC&pg=PA2}}</ref> According to Ellis, [[rational emotive behavior therapy]] "has favored E-Prime more than any other form of psychotherapy and I think it is still the only form of therapy that has some of its main books written in E-Prime".<ref>{{cite book | last=Ellis |first=Albert | author-link=Albert Ellis | editor1-last=Ellis |editor1-first=Albert | editor2-last=Blau | editor2-first=Shaun | title=The Albert Ellis Reader: A Guide to Well-Being Using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy | publisher=Citadel Press | year=1998 | page=312 | isbn=978-0-8065-2032-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LorJYkPSQOwC | access-date=12 April 2017}}</ref> However, Ellis did not always use E-Prime because he believed it interferes with readability.<ref name="EllisFeeling2"/>

==Criticisms==
Many authors have questioned E-Prime's effectiveness at improving readability and reducing [[prejudice]] (Lakoff, 1992; Murphy, 1992; Parkinson, 1992; Kenyon, 1992; French, 1992, 1993; Lohrey, 1993<!-- which authors questions which points? -->). These authors <!-- all of them? -->observed that communication under the copula ban can remain obscure and imply prejudice, while losing important [[speech pattern]]s, such as identities and identification. Further, prejudices and judgments may become more difficult to notice or refute.

Various arguments against E-Prime (in the context of general semantics) have been conjectured:<ref>Compare:
{{cite journal |last=French |first=James D |year=1992 |title=The Top Ten Arguments Against E-Prime |journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=75–79 |publisher=Institute of General Semantics }}</ref>

* "Effective writing techniques" are not relevant to general semantics as a discipline, and therefore it should not be promoted as general semantics practice. E-Prime does not distinguish statements that disobey the principles of general semantics from statements that do not. It lacks consistency with the other tenets of general semantics and should not be included into the discipline.
* The advocates of E-Prime have not proven that it is easier to exclude the verb ''to be'' than to eliminate only the "is" of identity and the "is" of [[Predicate (grammar)|predication]]. It may well be easier to do the latter for many people. ''To be'' statements convey not only identity but also [[asymmetrical]] [[Relation (philosophy)|relation]]s ("X heights more than Y"); [[negation]] ("A differs from B"); location ("Another castle contains the princess"); auxiliary ("He goes to the store") etc., forms that would also have to be excluded.
* The elimination of a whole class of sentences results in fewer alternatives and is likely to make writing less, rather than more, interesting. One can improve bad writing more by reducing use of the verb 'to be' than by excluding it.
* The context often ameliorates the possible harmful effects from the use of the "is" of identity and the "is" of predication, so it is not necessary to eliminate all such sentences. For example, "He is a judge" in response to a question about what someone does for a living would not be questionable, although "He works as a judge" would be an equivalent E-Prime sentence.
* Excluding ''to be'' has little effect on eliminating identity. For example, a statement of apparently equal identification, "The silly ban on copula continues," can be made without the copula assuming an identity rather than asserting it, consequently hampering our awareness of it.
* Identity-in-the-language is not the same as the far more important identity-in-reaction (identification). General semantics cuts the link between the two through the practice of silence on the objective levels, adopting a self-reflexive attitude, e.g., "as I see it" "it seems to me" etc., and by the use of quotation marks—without using E-Prime. One of the best languages for [[General semantics#The major premises|time-binding]] is mathematics, which relies heavily on the notion of equivalence and equality. For the purposes of time-binding, it may be better to cut the link between identity-in-the-language and identity-in-reaction.

According to an article (written in E-Prime and advocating a role for E-Prime in [[English as a foreign or second language|ESL and EFL]] programs) published by the Office of English Language Programs of the [[Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs]] in the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] of the United States, "Requiring students to avoid the verb to be on every assignment would deter students from developing other fundamental skills of fluent writing."<ref>{{cite web |first=John C. |last=Herbert |title=English Prime as an Instructional Tool in Writing Classes |url=http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol41/no3/p26.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007112531/http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol41/no3/p26.htm |archive-date=2006-10-07 |work=English Teaching Forum Online |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=2009-10-06 |quote=When applying the aforementioned ideas to any writing assignment, teachers must make sure their students know that the proposed set of guidelines represents only one means to an end and does not present an end in itself. Requiring students to avoid the verb to be on every assignment would deter students from developing other fundamental skills of fluent writing. However, introducing E-Prime restrictions for at least one assignment forces students to spend more time with their essays, to think critically about acceptable grammar and vocabulary, and to search for new, or nearly forgotten, vocabulary. }}</ref>

==Publications==
* ''[[Laws of Form]]'' by [[G. Spencer-Brown]], 1969 (except for one statement)
* ''[[Quantum Psychology]]'', by [[Robert Anton Wilson]] (1990)
* ''Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy'' by [[David Gerrold]] has a chapter about (and written in) E-Prime
* ''The New American Standard Bible in E-Prime'', composed by Dr. David F. Maas<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.generalsemantics.org/the-general-semantics-learning-center/applications-of-general-semantics/the-new-american-standard-bible-in-e-prime/| title = The New American Standard Bible in E-Prime – The Institute of General Semantics| access-date = 2014-07-08| archive-date = 2017-12-29| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171229214504/http://www.generalsemantics.org/the-general-semantics-learning-center/applications-of-general-semantics/the-new-american-standard-bible-in-e-prime/| url-status = dead}}</ref>
* ''[[Scoundrel Days: A Memoir]]'', 2017 [[Brentley Frazer]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Scoundrel Days: A Memoir|url=https://penguin.com.au/books/scoundrel-days-a-memoir-9780702259562|publisher=Penguin Books Australia|access-date=1 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820114939/https://www.penguin.com.au/books/scoundrel-days-a-memoir-9780702259562|archive-date=20 August 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*''An Insider’s Guide to Robert Anton Wilson'' by Eric Wagner
*''A New Guide to Rational Living,'' by [[Albert Ellis]] and Robert A. Harper (1975)
*''Warrens Witches Psionics,'' by John Tait (2024). ISBN 978-1-0687390-0-2 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-0687390-1-9 (ebook)

==See also==
{{col div|colwidth=20em}}
* {{annotated link|Ego eimi}}
* {{annotated link|I am (biblical term)}}
* {{annotated link|English passive voice}}
* {{annotated link|Epistemology}}
* {{annotated link|Implicit attitude}}
* {{section link|Language ideology#Language use and structure}}
* {{annotated link|Language proficiency}}
* {{annotated link|Linguistic philosophy}}
* {{annotated link|Linguistic relativity}}
* {{annotated link|Ontology}}
* {{annotated link|Perspectivism}}
* {{annotated link|Point of view (philosophy)}}
* {{annotated link|Temporality}}
* {{annotated link|Universality (philosophy)}}
* {{annotated link|Wooden language}}
* {{annotated link|Zero copula}}
{{colend}}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book|editor1-last= Bourland|editor1-first= D. David|editor2-last= Johnston|editor2-first= Paul Dennithorne |title=To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology |year=1991 |publisher=International Society for General Semantics |location=San Francisco |isbn=0-918970-38-5 |page=185}}
* {{Cite book|editor1-last = Bourland|editor1-first = D. David|editor2-last = Johnston|editor2-first = Paul Dennithorne|title=E-Prime III! : a third anthology |year=1997 |publisher=International Society for General Semantics |location=Concord, California |isbn=0-918970-46-6 }}
* Bourland, D. David Jr., Jeremy Klein, and Paul Dennithorne Johnstone, eds. (1994). ''More E-Prime: To Be or Not II''. Concord, California: International Society for General Semantics.
* French, James D. (1992). "The Top Ten Arguments against E-Prime". ''ETC: A Review of General Semantics'', vol. 49, no. 2, pp.&nbsp;175–79.
* French, James D. (1993). "The Prime Problem with General Semantics". ''ETC: A Review of General Semantics'', vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 326-35.
* Kenyon, Ralph (1992). "E-Prime: The Spirit and the Letter". ''ETC: A Review of General Semantics'', vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 185-88.
* Lakoff, Robin T. (1992). "Not Ready for Prime Time". ''ETC: A Review of General Semantics'', vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 142-45.
* Lohrey, Andrew (1993). "E-Prime, E-Choice, E-Chosen". ''ETC: A Review of General Semantics'', vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 346-50.
* Murphy, Cullen (Summer 1992). {{"'}}To Be' in Their Bonnets: A Matter of Semantics". ''ETC: A Review of General Semantics'', vol. 49, no. 2, pp.&nbsp;125–30.
* [[Cullen Murphy|Murphy, Cullen]] (February 1992). "[https://www.theatlantic.com/issues/92feb/murphy.htm 'To Be' in Their Bonnets: A matter of semantics]". ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]''.
* {{Cite journal |last=Parkinson |first=Theresa |year=1992 |title=Beyond E-Prime|journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=192–195 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [http://rawilson.com/quantum-psychology/ Excerpt] from ''[[Quantum Psychology]]'', 1990
* [http://www.textjournal.com.au/april16/frazer.htm Beyond Is: Creative Writing with English Prime] by [[Brentley Frazer]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130204204954/http://www.generalsemantics.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/articles/etc/46-3-bourland.pdf E-Prime! – The Fundamentals], by D. David Bourland Jr. Accessed: 8 December 2015.
* [http://www.generalsemantics.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/articles/etc/44-2-kellogg.pdf Speaking in E-Prime] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319075153/http://www.generalsemantics.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/articles/etc/44-2-kellogg.pdf |date=2012-03-19 }} by E. W. Kellogg III. Accessed: 8 December 2015.
* [http://www.xenodochy.org/gs/e-prime.html E-prime: The Spirit and the Letter, by Ralph E. Kenyon Jr.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061221093237/http://learn-gs.org/library/elaine-eprime.htm Discovering E-Prime], by Elaine C. Johnson <!--Originally at: http://www.asiteaboutnothing.net/pdf_discoveringeprime.pdf-->
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200330140249/http://www.hilgart.org/papers_html/091S196.B07.html E-Prime and Linguistic Revision, by C. A. Hilgartner]

{{English dialects by continent}}
{{Robert Anton Wilson}}

[[Category:Controlled English]]
[[Category:General semantics]]
[[Category:Narrative techniques]]