1. Do they have a 4th of July in England?
2. If there are 7 months that have 31 days in them and 11 months that have 30 days in them, how many months have 28 days in them?
3. How many birthdays does the average man have?
4. What is boiled then cooled, sweetened then soured?
5. A woman gives a beggar 50 cents; the woman is the beggar's sister, but the beggar is not the woman's brother. How come?
E-Prime for Dummies
By Miguel Mejía Flórez
E-Prime, short for English-Prime, refers to a simplified version and a linguistic revision of the English language, which tends to eliminate all forms the verb Be (am, is, are, was, were, been, being, and their corresponding contractions and negations) and some forms of the passive voice.
We can track the sources of E-Prime from a broad variety of linguistic and philosophical approaches to language (from Wittgenstein to Korsybski), but we could state in a simple way that thinkers who advocate E-Prime believe that this form of language eases deviations of meaning caused (throughout the last two millennia) by inappropriate application of Aristotle’s Categories —the intrinsic components of any idea or perception we may have of our world.
Supporters of E-Prime say that the way people practice common sense with Aristotle’s Categories of Substance, Quality, Quantity, Relation, Place, Time, Position, State, and Action, through the recurrent use of the verb Be, has led to an era of lower-order thinking and vagueness.
Example 1:
When we say: “Mary is a sad girl”, our brains process the information in such a way that we cannot find a clear and unique connection with it. That sentence may indicate that Mary had, or has, or will continue to have a distressed nature (or the three of them together); when maybe our poor Mary simply experienced a few sad events in her past.
Example 2:
When in a newspaper you read something like: “More control will be reinforced by Immigration Authorities”, our brain does not seem to catch at once what the writer really meant: “The head of the Immigration Authorities (or someone of a higher hierarchy) considers advisable to reinforce controls.” So, E-Prime advocates argue that the passive voice can be a way to avoid personal or civil responsibilities as we speak or write.
According to E-Prime, the use of Be for predicates of attributes (Jenny is irresponsible) and identity (Tom is an engineer), often tends to trick our minds with biased ideas and unfounded conclusions. A list of how some simple sentences can be clarified and improved, so you can track their meaning without any doubt, follows:
Examples of adaptations of simple sentences with BE to E-Prime
Attributes
1. The problem is insoluble.
The problem seems insoluble to me.
2. There is no answer.
There appears no answer to me.
3. Mary is beautiful.
Mary appears beautiful to my eyes.
Identity
1. Be a man!
Tell her what you think!
2. Be a good mother!
Feed your baby when he cries!
3. She is an engineer.
She has a degree in engineering.
4. This is a toad.
English speaking people call this a toad.
Problems of E-Prime
Thinkers and linguists have proposed many discussions on the advantages, disadvantages and problems of E-Prime. The use of Be in continuous tenses, and the case of certain passive structures exemplify two major discussions.
When you say: “Mary is playing in the park.”, you are not expressing any opinion, belief or biased assumption. You are simple depicting a course of action taking place in the world.
The sentence: “My floors were refinished yesterday.” seems dull when changed to active voice, unless you have an interesting subject to mention for that particular action. “A worker refinished my floors” is pointless to say the least.
Exercise 1:
Think about ways to adapt to E-Prime the following sentences:
1. Men are selfish.
2. I want to be self-confident.
3. Bill is my husband.
4. Alice is so sexy.
5. Be objective.
6. It is forbidden.
Exercise 2:
Write a short paragraph in which you describe an event in your life without using was, wasn’t, were or weren’t
Sources
.....................Poor.....Fair.....Good.......Very good.....Excellent
Content........ ...10........20........30............40...............50
Layout.............10........15... .. ..20............25..............30
Interaction.........0.........5.........10............15..............20
..........................................................Total: _____________ out of 100
