Customer Reviews

To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology

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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")

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