To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology [Paperback]

D. David Bourland (Author), Paul Dennithorne Johnston (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0918970385 | ISBN-13: 978-0918970381 | Publication Date: October 1, 1991

Examine the verbs of the "to be" family and you will find a startling underlying assumption. The words be, been, is, was, am, were, etc., have their logical basis in the idea that things stay the same. The notion of identity — a thing's absolute sameness with a similar thing or with itself over time — has confused and corrupted thinking since the days of Aristotle.

Life means change: growth, learning, metamorphosis, decay. Even the apparently changeless earth changes, as moving plates push up mountains or split continents apart. Today we often experience rapid social and technological change. Yet our daily language has at its foundation the assumption that things don't change, an assumption that helps us focus and therefore "understand," but also leads us astray when we act as if things haven't changed, and they have. How can we deal with this "two-edged sword" that both helps and hinders us in our daily lives?

E-Prime, a new variant of English that eliminates the verbs of the "to be" family, makes us aware of the problem, and offers one solution.

Some of the benefits: lively, concise writing and speaking; clearer, more critical thinking; better communication, evaluation and decision-making.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It [E-Prime] forces one relentlessly to confront sloppiness, laziness, fuzziness, blandness, imprecision, simplistic generalization... -- The Atlantic Monthly, February, 1992

About the Author

Edited by:

Paul Dennithorne Johnston, a graduate of the City of London (England) Polytechnic, serves as Executive Director of the International Society for General Semantics and Managing Editor of ETC.: A Review of General Semantics. Mr. Johnston has worked as newspaper reporter and editor, and has published fiction and nonfiction in the U.S.A. and Britain.

D. David Bourland, Jr., graduated from Culver Military Academy (1946), Harvard College (A.B. Mathematics, 1951), Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration (M.B.A. 1953), and the Universidad de Costa Rica (Licenciatura in English Linguistics, 1973). Mr. Bourland, who held a fellowship for study at the Institute for General Semantics, 1949-1950, has participated in many of the Institute's seminars, edited the General Semantics Bulletin, 1964-1970, and acted as a trustee of the Institute, 1964-1989. He served on the Staff, Commander Naval Forces Far East, as a Lieutenant, Junior Grade, 1953-1955, and worked in naval operations research, 1955-1971. Mr. Bourland taught at the Universidad de Costa Rica from 1971 to 1980, retiring as Associate Professor of Linguistics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Intl Society for General (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0918970385
• ISBN-13: 978-0918970381
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,413,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brisker, less biased English, May 16, 2000

By 

Robert Ian Scott (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology (Paperback)

If we don't use the word "is" or any other form of the verb "to be," what happens? The book "To Be or Not" shows what happens when we use active verbs instead, and how to use them, to write a more briskly informative English.

Instead of saying "Bill is bad" (a possibly harmful judgement, which tells us nothing about Bill himself), say what you have seen him do. Judgements using "is" may keep us from noticing much or thinking accurately; they may have us reacting in recklessly all-or-nothing ways as we assume that what we already feel is the truth, the whole truth, and all that matters.

In two introductions, a dozen articles, and one short story, "To Be or Not" provides a lively and easily understood introduction to E-Prime, English without the verb "to be," a remarkably practical semantics which anyone using English needs.

Related books:

"More E-Prime: To Be or Not II" (more descriptions of how using active verbs produces a more briskly specific and informative English)

'E-Prime III! A Third Anthology" (more descriptions, including how often some famous examples of English use "to be")

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you wish to write, think and speak more effectively, explore E-Prime, June 13, 2007

By 

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology (Paperback)

You may be reading this review in the wake of a recent and very popular video which has been making the rounds on the internet by a particular writer and teacher and poet named Taylor Mali. Follow a link to his website and you'll find an intriguing podcast called "Why I Speak the Way I speak" which will give you an oral example of E-Prime and his reasons for using it. For those not yet familiar with E-Prime, it basically focuses on
abolishing or limiting the use of the verb "To Be".

Examples of sentences using verbs with "to be" in them would include "I am depressed" or "He is cheerful". Now, consider the first sentence. Wouldn't it be clearer to say " I feel very depressed today because my dog died?" In contrast, if a person says, "I am depressed" it is harder to know if this is a permanent state of being, a temporary emotion or...?

As a former teacher and sometime journalist, I was automatically writing in E-prime a good deal of the time (but not always, wasn't fanatical about it) but not realizing WHY sentences used this way could be so effective, strong and focused. Now I am fascinated by the possibilities for using this in oral speech. I do think overuse of words like "is" "are" "were' "was" "am and "Be', among others, can water down sentence, muddle conversation and make things less clear.

Anyway, check out this book and related ones and see what YOU think:

More E-Prime: To Be or Not II

E-Prime III!: A Third Anthology