Difference between revisions of "E-Prime"

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:''For the interactive-experiment design software, see [[E-Prime (software)]]''
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"It was found that the background linguistic system (in other words, the grammar) of each language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the individual's mental activity, for his analysis of impressions, for his synthesis of his mental stock in trade."
'''E-Prime''', short for '''English Prime''', refers to a modification of the [[English language]] that prohibits the use of the [[verb]] "[[Copula|to be]]" in all its forms.  
 
  
== History ==
+
E-Prime comprises standard English with all forms of the verb 'TO BE' deleted; its use prevents forms of the verb 'TO BE' creating erroneous and irrational generalisations in language and thought
One of Korzybski's students, D. David Bourland, Jr. proposed E-prime as an addition to [[Alfred Korzybski]]'s [[general semantics]] some years after Korzybski's [[death]] in [[1950]]. Bourland coined the term in an [[essay]] in [[1965]] entitled ''A Linguistic Note: Writing in E-Prime'' (originally published in the ''General Semantics Bulletin'').  It quickly became controversial within general semantics, partly because sometimes practioners of General Semantics saw Bourland as attacking the verb 'to be' as such, and not just certain usages — one [[cartoon]] in an E-Prime book compared the verb with [[excrement]].
 
  
Korzybski had found two forms of the verb 'to be' - the 'is' of identity and the 'is' of predication - to have structural problems. For example, the sentence "The coat is red" has no observer, but "We see the coat as red" (here "we" indicates observers) appears more correct as to the facts about light waves and colour as determined by [[modern science]], i.e., [[colour]] results from a reaction in the [[human brain]]. Korzybski advocated raising one's awareness of  structural issues generally through training in general semantics. 
+
X says that, X believes, X asserts that, In X's opinion, X hold's the view, In X's view, X assumes that, In X's appreciation, In X's understanding, X perceives that, In X's perception, X insists that, X claims, From X's point of view, X said yesterday that, X pronounces that, X pronounced that, X holds that, X holds the opinion that, X has pronounced that, X thinks that, X has the view that, X maintains that, X affirms that, X made it known that, X maintains that, X asserts that, X alleges that, X suggests that, X imagines that, X estimates that, In X's estimation, X claims that, X observes that, According to X, X declares that, X has declared that, In X's observation, X observes that, X contends that, X has argued that
  
== The different functions of 'to be' ==
+
accords with, acts like, acts as if, represents, resembles, seems like, simulates, apes, approaches, approximates, approximates to, behaves like, smells like, sounds like, symbolises, takes after, tallies with, tastes like, typifies, caricatures, coincides with, compares with, conforms with, copies, correlates with, corresponds to, corresponds with, cross maps to, depicts, duplicates, emulates, epitomises, equals, equates to, illustrates, imitates, impersonates, likens to, looks like, matches, means, echoes, mirrors, models, moves like, paraphrases, passes for, performs like, portrays, poses like, reflects, acts in the manner of, postures in the style of, imitates the behaviour of, behaves in the manner of, has the attributes of, behaves in like manner to, can be modelled upon, demonstrates the behaviour of, echoes the behaviour of, manoeuvres in the style of, patterns itself on, matches that of, can be modelled as, employs tactics like, follows the pattern of, follows the behaviour of, follows the same patterns as, follows the path of, has the attributes of, has similar characteristics to, has the same characteristics as, has some of the same characteristics as, reflects the behaviour of, replicates the behaviour of, has some of the characteristics of (Non-exhaustive list.)
In use, the verb 'to be' has several distinct functions:
 
  
* '''Identity''', of the form "''noun'' be ''noun''" ''[The cat is an animal]''
+
behaves, acts, depicts, displays, echoes, emulates, exemplifies, feels, illustrates, indicates, looks, mimics, mirrors, models, personifies, portrays, appears, reflects, replicates, represents, seems, associates with, symbolises, acts like, acts as if, behaves as if, appears as if it, behaves like, comes across as, comes over as, correlates with, cross maps to, demonstrates the qualities of, demonstrates, demonstrates the characteristics of, evokes in me the perception of, exhibits the form of, falls in the category of, gives me the sensation of, gives the impression of, gives the image of, has the semblance of, has the qualities of, has the properties of, impresses me as, looks like, looks like, shows signs of, shows the features of, shows up as, shows the criterion of, simulates, sounds like, stands for, takes the form of, takes the shape of (Non-exhaustive list.)
* '''Predication''', of the form "''noun'' be ''adjective''" ''[The cat is furry]''
 
* '''Auxiliary''', of the form "''noun'' be ''verb''" ''[The cat is sleeping]''; ''[The cat is bitten by the dog]''
 
* '''Existence''', of the form "''noun'' be" ''[There is a cat]''
 
* '''Location''', of the form "''noun'' be ''place''" ''[The cat is on the mat]''
 
  
Bourland sees specifically the "identity" and "predication" functions as pernicious, but advocates eliminating all forms for the sake of simplicity. In the case of the "existence" form (and less [[idiomatic]]ally, the "location" form), one can simply substitute the verb "exists".
+
The dog is a menace.becomes... Joe says that the dog behaves like a menace
  
== Criticism ==
+
.'It is raining'
  
Note that E-Prime forces a writer to choose verbs and meanings carefully:  the elimination of "to be" implicitly eliminates the [[passive voice]] and [[Imperfective aspect|progressive aspect]]. Since many stylists argue that these occur too frequently in sloppy English writing, this constraint alone accounts for much of the appeal of E-Prime to some of its advocates.  Of course it may also generate difficulties for some writers as they learn to use E-Prime. 
+
..'The dog is walking across the field'
  
E-Prime's advocates may also assert that its use leads to a less dogmatic style of [[language]] that reduces the possibility for misunderstanding and for [[conflict]]. Detractors might observe that some languages already treat equivalents of the verb "to be" very differently without giving any obvious advantages to their speakers. For instance, [[Arabic language|Arabic]], like [[Russian language|Russian]], already lacks a verb form of "to be" or "is" in the present tense. If one wanted to assert, in Arabic, that "an apple is red", one would not literally say "the apple looks red", but "the apple red". That is, speakers can communicate the verb form of "to be" - and/or its E-Prime equivalents - with their semantic advantages and disadvantages, even without the existence of the word itself (though without resolving the ambiguities that E-Prime seeks to alleviate).  Similarly, the [[Ainu language]] consistently does not distinguish between "be" and "become"; thus ''ne'' means both "be" and "become", and ''pirka'' means "good", "be good", and "become good" equally. Many languages — for instance [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] — already distinguish "existence"/"location" from "identity"/"predication".
+
..'The man is using a pencil'
  
No compatibility exists between E-Prime and [[Charles Kay Ogden]]'s [[Basic English]] because Basic English has a closed set of verbs - excluding verbs such as "become", "remain", and "equal" that E-Prime uses to replace or precisify states of "being". Changes such as those proposed for E-Prime also might eliminate enough ways to express [[grammatical aspect|aspect]] in [[African American Vernacular English]] to prove unworkable if applied indiscriminately to such language.
+
..'I am working'
  
==Discouraged forms==
+
..'Joe was watching TV'
  
''To be'' falls in the set of [[irregular verb]]s in English; some individuals, especially those have learned English as a second language, may have difficulty recognizing all its forms. In addition, speakers of [[colloquial]] English frequently [[Contraction (linguistics)|contract]] ''to be'' after [[pronoun]]s or before the word ''[[Negation#Grammar|not]]''. E-Prime would prohibit the following words as forms of ''to be'':
+
..'It rains'
  
*''be''
+
..'The dog walks across the field'
*''being''
 
*''been''
 
*''am''
 
*''is''; ''isn't''
 
*''are''; ''aren't''
 
*''was''; ''wasn't''
 
*''were''; ''weren't''
 
*[[Contraction (linguistics)|Contractions]] formed from a [[pronoun]] and a [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugation]] of ''to be'':
 
**''I'm''
 
**''you're''; ''we're''; ''they're''
 
**''he's''; ''she's''; ''it's'' (when derived from ''it is'')
 
*E-Prime likewise prohibits contractions of ''to be'' found in nonstandard [[dialect]]s of English, such as the following:
 
**''[[ain't]]''
 
**''[[hain't]]'' (when derived from ''ain't'' rather than ''haven't'')
 
  
===Allowed words===
+
..'The man uses a pencil'
  
E-prime does not prohibit the following words, because they do not derive from forms of ''to be''. Some of these serve similar grammatical functions (see [[auxiliary verb]]s).
+
..'I work'
*''become''
 
*''has''; ''have''
 
*''I've''; ''you've''
 
*''do''; ''does''; ''doing''; ''did''
 
*''can''; ''could''
 
*''will''; ''would''
 
*''shall''; ''should''
 
*''ought''
 
  
===Allowed words with prohibited homophones or homographs===
+
..'Joe watched TV'
  
The following words may either look ([[homograph]]) or sound ([[homophone]]) like a form of the word ''to be'', but they do not have the same meaning.
+
..'It continues raining'
  
*''its'', the [[possessive case]] of the singular [[gender-neutral pronoun]]
+
..or 'It continues to rain'
*''it's'' and more generally ''’s'' when derived from 'has'
 
*''hain't'' (in nonstandard dialects when derived from ''haven't'' rather than ''ain't'')
 
*[[Noun]]s that sound like forms of the verb ''to be'':
 
**''[[bee]]'', meaning an insect or [[spelling bee|a contest]]
 
**''[[being]]'' when used as a noun, as in [[Virginia Woolf]]'s statement, "The artist after all is a solitary ''being''"
 
**''[[B]]'', ''[[M]]'', and ''[[R]]'', names of the letters (although ''M'' is pronounced distinctly from ''am'' in many [[dialect]]s)
 
  
==Examples==
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..or 'It rains continually'
  
{| border="0" style="padding:8px; border: solid silver 1px"
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..'The dog keeps on walking across the field'
!E-Prime
 
!Standard English
 
|-
 
|colspan="2"|
 
----
 
|-
 
|| These short examples illustrate some of the ways to modify standard English writing to use E-Prime.
 
|| These are some short examples to illustrate some of the ways that standard English writing can be modified to use E-Prime.
 
|-
 
|colspan="2"|
 
----
 
|-
 
|| Roses look red;<br />Violets look blue.<br />Honey pleases me,<br />And so do you.
 
|| [[Roses are red]];<br />Violets are blue.<br />Honey is sweet,<br />And so are you.
 
|-
 
|colspan="2"|
 
----
 
|-
 
|| Alice began to tire of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister read, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what use does a book have,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'
 
:&mdash;modified from [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''
 
|| Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'
 
:&mdash;[[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''
 
|}
 
  
==See also==
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..'The man persists in using a pencil'
*[[Grammatical voice]]
 
*[[Sapir-Whorf hypothesis]]
 
  
==External links==
+
..'I will keep on working'
*[http://www.e-prime.com E-Prime] - Practice your E-Prime in an online discussion forum
 
*[http://www.nobeliefs.com/eprime.htm Toward understanding E-prime]
 
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20041012070736/http://objectz.com/columnists/eandd/ Working with E-Prime] - detailed article
 
*[http://www.xenodochy.org/gs/e-prime.html E-prime: The Spirit and the Letter, by Ralph E. Kenyon Jr.]
 
*[http://learn-gs.org/library/elaine-eprime.htm Discovering E-Prime, by Elaine C. Johnson]
 
*[http://www.hilgart.org/papers_html/091S196.B07.html E-Prime and Linguistic Revision, by C. A. Hilgartner]
 
*[http://learn-gs.org/library/etc/49-2-french.pdf The Top Ten Arguments Against E-Prime (PDF)] - by James D. French, arguing for moderation in use of ''to be'' rather than abstinence
 
  
[[Category:Forms of English]]
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..'Joe carried on watching TV'
[[Category:Semantics]]
+
 
[[simple:E Prime]]
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a) Not 'Jones is a...' but 'Jones acts like a...'
 +
 
 +
..b) Not 'I am...' but 'I feel...'
 +
 
 +
..c) Not 'It is...' but 'It looks...'
 +
 
 +
Statement:
 +
 
 +
..'Bill Clinton is President of the USA'
 +
 
 +
Comments/Questions:
 +
 
 +
..Not forever.
 +
 
 +
..How did he get there? Process of election.
 +
 
 +
..When did he get elected?
 +
 
 +
..Who elected him?
 +
 
 +
New Statement:
 +
 
 +
..'The people of the USA ELECTED Bill Clinton President for four years in...'
 +
 
 +
The process word 'elected' gets rid of the 'is' and tells us what actually went on, tells us about the PROCESS that took/continues to take place. By using that word, we also get to refer to the doer in the process - i.e. 'The people of the USA,' played a vital part. Clinton no longer 'is' President - as if cast in stone eternally - once we discover the underlying process variables.
 +
 
 +
Statement:
 +
 
 +
..'The car is damaged'
 +
 
 +
Comments/Questions:
 +
 
 +
..How did the car get damaged?
 +
 
 +
..Who damaged it? (or did it damage itself?)
 +
 
 +
..What form does the damage take?
 +
 
 +
..When did it happen to get damaged?
 +
 
 +
..etc.
 +
 
 +
New Statement:
 +
 
 +
..'I drove the car into a wall and dented the front nearside wing last night'
 +
 
 +
Process words 'drove' and 'dented' displace the 'is' form - a form that could imply that the fairies came along in the middle of the night and inflicted the said damage with magic wands. Note the undeletion of the doer - 'I' - in the process version of events.
 +
 
 +
..a) 'Is business satisfactory?' (measuring 'business')
 +
 
 +
..b) 'I wish I was ten pounds lighter' (measuring weight)
 +
 
 +
..c) 'What size are your hips?' (measuring girth/distance)
 +
 
 +
..d) 'Is this dress the right size for you, Fred?' (measuring 'fit')
 +
 
 +
..e) 'It's miles to Tipperary' (measuring distance)
 +
 
 +
..f) 'The aircraft is travelling at Mach 1.6' (measuring speed/velocity)
 +
 
 +
..a) Smith asked: "How many units have you SOLD this week?"
 +
 
 +
..b) I wish I WEIGHED ten pounds less
 +
 
 +
..c) She asked: "What do you MEASURE around the hips?"
 +
 
 +
..d) "Does this dress FIT you, Fred?" I ventured.
 +
 
 +
..e) Smith says the distance from here to Tipperary MEASURES two miles.
 +
 
 +
..f) I MEASURED the speed of the aircraft as Mach 1.6
 +
 
 +
..a) Joe Bloggs is a pig
 +
 
 +
.Joe bloggs seems like a pig (to me)
 +
 
 +
..b) The electron is a wave
 +
 
 +
.The electron is like a wave (in my view)
 +
 
 +
..c) The Zygonwis are heathens
 +
 
 +
.The Zyngonwis are like heathens (in Rev Smith's opinion)
 +
 
 +
..a) Joe Bloggs is stupid
 +
 
 +
.To me, Joe Bloggs seems stupid
 +
 
 +
..b) The rose is love
 +
 
 +
.The rose appears as love to me
 +
 
 +
..c) The radiator is hot
 +
 
 +
.The radiator seems hot to Sylvia
 +
 
 +
..d) The rose is red
 +
 
 +
.To Shakespeare, the rose seemed red
 +
 
 +
The trap takes the form of a temptation to immediately introduce a form of the 'to be' verb - for example 'In my view, the dog IS a lazy...' Again, the tendency to use this form lies in habit. Practice - and the use of ACTIVE VERBS immediately after the first noun phrase - will assist in overcoming this. The English language contains thousands of verbs that will serve as'active' verbs, a suitable one for any particular sentence can usually be found with a bit of effort. In difficult cases, the reader should seek out a dictionary or thesaurus - or consider recasting the offending sentence altogether.
 +
 
 +
Short List of Active Verbs
 +
 
 +
appears, seems, looks, behaves, walks, smells, tastes, have, get, sounds, feels, works, dreams, hurts, walks, contains, follows, seeks, stands, sits, gives, takes, runs, bubbles, drags, warms, grows, listens, loves, runs, lies, asks, blames, bends, cleans, heats, cools, brings, start, commence, demonstrates, leaves, verifies, avoids, believes, represents, works, radiates, releases, causes, speaks, expects, creates, makes, resembles, duplicates, provides, seems similar to, moves, accords with, acts like, acts as if, represents, come, resembles, wallows, rises, whines, proves, seems like, simulates, stop, apes, approaches, agree, realises, shows, scents, denies, aggrees with, embodies, describes, knows, ignores, understands, defines, clarifies, informs, hides, reveals, approximates, approximates to, behaves like, smells like, sounds like, symbolises, takes after, tallies with, tastes like, typifies, caricatures, coincides with, compares with, conforms with, copies, correlates with, corresponds to, corresponds with, cross maps to, depicts, duplicates, emulates, epitomises, equals, equates to, illustrates, imitates, impersonates, likens to, looks like, matches, means, echoes, mirrors, models, moves like, paraphrases, passes for, performs like, portrays, poses like, reflects
 +
 
 +
Note that the above lists represent a 'starter package' suitable for use with either spoken or written forms. The reader should cut and paste them and add his/her preferred forms as developed/required.
 +
 
 +
..a) How are you?
 +
 
 +
How goes it? How has it been going recently?
 +
 
 +
..b) Is Smith there?
 +
 
 +
Can I speak to Smith? Tell Smith to report to me. Kindly connect me with Smith.
 +
 
 +
..c) Where is Z?
 +
 
 +
Tell me the whereabouts of Z. Where can I find Z? Kindly direct me to Z.
 +
 
 +
Consider the forms of the verb 'to be': 'be', 'been', 'is', 'are', 'am', 'was', and 'were'. Semanticists have long recognized that these words contribute to imprecision of expression, ambiguity, and even logical mistakes. Some advocate eliminating all verbs of being, all forms of the 'is' of identity and the 'is' of predication. The resulting "purified" English carries the name "E-prime."
 +
 
 +
You can't pose stupid questions like "What is the meaning of life?" or "Who am I?" Most poetry cannot be rewritten in E-prime. You can't utter philosophical pseudoprofundities like "I think, therefore I am." I consider these beneficial results strongly argue in favor of the adoption of E-prime. Throw out "My love is like a red, red rose." Such constructions encourage vague, imprecise, misleading, ambiguous, and foolish writing masquerading as profundity.
 +
 
 +
Even without the extreme remedy of completely adopting E-prime, the underlying principle of avoidance of 'be' forms can benefit anyone's writing. For an exercise, select something you have written, then rewrite it in E-prime. As you rework the sentences to remove the 'be' forms, you will discover, perhaps to your surprise, that the new version gains clarity and vigor. You'll discover exactly how the 'be' words contributed to flabbiness of expression. In some cases a 'be' word may not appear explicitly, but still lurks in hiding, implicitly present in the thought. You will, of course, not allow yourself that manner of cheating!

Revision as of 21:04, 29 December 2005

"It was found that the background linguistic system (in other words, the grammar) of each language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the individual's mental activity, for his analysis of impressions, for his synthesis of his mental stock in trade."

E-Prime comprises standard English with all forms of the verb 'TO BE' deleted; its use prevents forms of the verb 'TO BE' creating erroneous and irrational generalisations in language and thought

X says that, X believes, X asserts that, In X's opinion, X hold's the view, In X's view, X assumes that, In X's appreciation, In X's understanding, X perceives that, In X's perception, X insists that, X claims, From X's point of view, X said yesterday that, X pronounces that, X pronounced that, X holds that, X holds the opinion that, X has pronounced that, X thinks that, X has the view that, X maintains that, X affirms that, X made it known that, X maintains that, X asserts that, X alleges that, X suggests that, X imagines that, X estimates that, In X's estimation, X claims that, X observes that, According to X, X declares that, X has declared that, In X's observation, X observes that, X contends that, X has argued that

accords with, acts like, acts as if, represents, resembles, seems like, simulates, apes, approaches, approximates, approximates to, behaves like, smells like, sounds like, symbolises, takes after, tallies with, tastes like, typifies, caricatures, coincides with, compares with, conforms with, copies, correlates with, corresponds to, corresponds with, cross maps to, depicts, duplicates, emulates, epitomises, equals, equates to, illustrates, imitates, impersonates, likens to, looks like, matches, means, echoes, mirrors, models, moves like, paraphrases, passes for, performs like, portrays, poses like, reflects, acts in the manner of, postures in the style of, imitates the behaviour of, behaves in the manner of, has the attributes of, behaves in like manner to, can be modelled upon, demonstrates the behaviour of, echoes the behaviour of, manoeuvres in the style of, patterns itself on, matches that of, can be modelled as, employs tactics like, follows the pattern of, follows the behaviour of, follows the same patterns as, follows the path of, has the attributes of, has similar characteristics to, has the same characteristics as, has some of the same characteristics as, reflects the behaviour of, replicates the behaviour of, has some of the characteristics of (Non-exhaustive list.)

behaves, acts, depicts, displays, echoes, emulates, exemplifies, feels, illustrates, indicates, looks, mimics, mirrors, models, personifies, portrays, appears, reflects, replicates, represents, seems, associates with, symbolises, acts like, acts as if, behaves as if, appears as if it, behaves like, comes across as, comes over as, correlates with, cross maps to, demonstrates the qualities of, demonstrates, demonstrates the characteristics of, evokes in me the perception of, exhibits the form of, falls in the category of, gives me the sensation of, gives the impression of, gives the image of, has the semblance of, has the qualities of, has the properties of, impresses me as, looks like, looks like, shows signs of, shows the features of, shows up as, shows the criterion of, simulates, sounds like, stands for, takes the form of, takes the shape of (Non-exhaustive list.)

The dog is a menace.becomes... Joe says that the dog behaves like a menace

.'It is raining'

..'The dog is walking across the field'

..'The man is using a pencil'

..'I am working'

..'Joe was watching TV'

..'It rains'

..'The dog walks across the field'

..'The man uses a pencil'

..'I work'

..'Joe watched TV'

..'It continues raining'

..or 'It continues to rain'

..or 'It rains continually'

..'The dog keeps on walking across the field'

..'The man persists in using a pencil'

..'I will keep on working'

..'Joe carried on watching TV'

a) Not 'Jones is a...' but 'Jones acts like a...'

..b) Not 'I am...' but 'I feel...'

..c) Not 'It is...' but 'It looks...'

Statement:

..'Bill Clinton is President of the USA'

Comments/Questions:

..Not forever.

..How did he get there? Process of election.

..When did he get elected?

..Who elected him?

New Statement:

..'The people of the USA ELECTED Bill Clinton President for four years in...'

The process word 'elected' gets rid of the 'is' and tells us what actually went on, tells us about the PROCESS that took/continues to take place. By using that word, we also get to refer to the doer in the process - i.e. 'The people of the USA,' played a vital part. Clinton no longer 'is' President - as if cast in stone eternally - once we discover the underlying process variables.

Statement:

..'The car is damaged'

Comments/Questions:

..How did the car get damaged?

..Who damaged it? (or did it damage itself?)

..What form does the damage take?

..When did it happen to get damaged?

..etc.

New Statement:

..'I drove the car into a wall and dented the front nearside wing last night'

Process words 'drove' and 'dented' displace the 'is' form - a form that could imply that the fairies came along in the middle of the night and inflicted the said damage with magic wands. Note the undeletion of the doer - 'I' - in the process version of events.

..a) 'Is business satisfactory?' (measuring 'business')

..b) 'I wish I was ten pounds lighter' (measuring weight)

..c) 'What size are your hips?' (measuring girth/distance)

..d) 'Is this dress the right size for you, Fred?' (measuring 'fit')

..e) 'It's miles to Tipperary' (measuring distance)

..f) 'The aircraft is travelling at Mach 1.6' (measuring speed/velocity)

..a) Smith asked: "How many units have you SOLD this week?"

..b) I wish I WEIGHED ten pounds less

..c) She asked: "What do you MEASURE around the hips?"

..d) "Does this dress FIT you, Fred?" I ventured.

..e) Smith says the distance from here to Tipperary MEASURES two miles.

..f) I MEASURED the speed of the aircraft as Mach 1.6

..a) Joe Bloggs is a pig

.Joe bloggs seems like a pig (to me)

..b) The electron is a wave

.The electron is like a wave (in my view)

..c) The Zygonwis are heathens

.The Zyngonwis are like heathens (in Rev Smith's opinion)

..a) Joe Bloggs is stupid

.To me, Joe Bloggs seems stupid

..b) The rose is love

.The rose appears as love to me

..c) The radiator is hot

.The radiator seems hot to Sylvia

..d) The rose is red

.To Shakespeare, the rose seemed red

The trap takes the form of a temptation to immediately introduce a form of the 'to be' verb - for example 'In my view, the dog IS a lazy...' Again, the tendency to use this form lies in habit. Practice - and the use of ACTIVE VERBS immediately after the first noun phrase - will assist in overcoming this. The English language contains thousands of verbs that will serve as'active' verbs, a suitable one for any particular sentence can usually be found with a bit of effort. In difficult cases, the reader should seek out a dictionary or thesaurus - or consider recasting the offending sentence altogether.

Short List of Active Verbs

appears, seems, looks, behaves, walks, smells, tastes, have, get, sounds, feels, works, dreams, hurts, walks, contains, follows, seeks, stands, sits, gives, takes, runs, bubbles, drags, warms, grows, listens, loves, runs, lies, asks, blames, bends, cleans, heats, cools, brings, start, commence, demonstrates, leaves, verifies, avoids, believes, represents, works, radiates, releases, causes, speaks, expects, creates, makes, resembles, duplicates, provides, seems similar to, moves, accords with, acts like, acts as if, represents, come, resembles, wallows, rises, whines, proves, seems like, simulates, stop, apes, approaches, agree, realises, shows, scents, denies, aggrees with, embodies, describes, knows, ignores, understands, defines, clarifies, informs, hides, reveals, approximates, approximates to, behaves like, smells like, sounds like, symbolises, takes after, tallies with, tastes like, typifies, caricatures, coincides with, compares with, conforms with, copies, correlates with, corresponds to, corresponds with, cross maps to, depicts, duplicates, emulates, epitomises, equals, equates to, illustrates, imitates, impersonates, likens to, looks like, matches, means, echoes, mirrors, models, moves like, paraphrases, passes for, performs like, portrays, poses like, reflects

Note that the above lists represent a 'starter package' suitable for use with either spoken or written forms. The reader should cut and paste them and add his/her preferred forms as developed/required.

..a) How are you?

How goes it? How has it been going recently?

..b) Is Smith there?

Can I speak to Smith? Tell Smith to report to me. Kindly connect me with Smith.

..c) Where is Z?

Tell me the whereabouts of Z. Where can I find Z? Kindly direct me to Z.

Consider the forms of the verb 'to be': 'be', 'been', 'is', 'are', 'am', 'was', and 'were'. Semanticists have long recognized that these words contribute to imprecision of expression, ambiguity, and even logical mistakes. Some advocate eliminating all verbs of being, all forms of the 'is' of identity and the 'is' of predication. The resulting "purified" English carries the name "E-prime."

You can't pose stupid questions like "What is the meaning of life?" or "Who am I?" Most poetry cannot be rewritten in E-prime. You can't utter philosophical pseudoprofundities like "I think, therefore I am." I consider these beneficial results strongly argue in favor of the adoption of E-prime. Throw out "My love is like a red, red rose." Such constructions encourage vague, imprecise, misleading, ambiguous, and foolish writing masquerading as profundity.

Even without the extreme remedy of completely adopting E-prime, the underlying principle of avoidance of 'be' forms can benefit anyone's writing. For an exercise, select something you have written, then rewrite it in E-prime. As you rework the sentences to remove the 'be' forms, you will discover, perhaps to your surprise, that the new version gains clarity and vigor. You'll discover exactly how the 'be' words contributed to flabbiness of expression. In some cases a 'be' word may not appear explicitly, but still lurks in hiding, implicitly present in the thought. You will, of course, not allow yourself that manner of cheating!