E Prime facts for kids

E Prime (which means English Prime) is a special way of using the English language. When you use E Prime, you avoid using any form of the verb "to be" (like "be," "is," "am," "are," "was," "were," "been," or "being").

Instead of "to be," people using E Prime choose other verbs. They might use words like "to become," "to remain," or "to equal." Or, they might change the sentence completely to show who or what is doing the action.

For example, imagine someone says, "Mistakes were made." In E Prime, you would change that to "Joe made mistakes." This new sentence clearly shows that "Joe" was the one who made the mistakes. The first sentence hid who was responsible. People who use E Prime think the changed sentence is much clearer and more accurate.

What E Prime Is All About

A person named D. David Bourland, Jr. first suggested E Prime in 1965. He had studied something called General Semantics.

The main idea of General Semantics is that we can only truly know what we experience with our senses. This means what we see, hear, touch, taste, smell, think, and feel. Also, what we experience in the past can change how we experience things in the future. Since everyone has different experiences throughout their lives, they understand things in their own unique ways.

People who study General Semantics and use E Prime believe that saying "This cat is soft" isn't the best way to describe it. They feel it leaves out other details. It also makes it sound like the cat itself is exactly the same as the feeling of "softness."

Instead, E Prime users would say, "This cat feels soft TO ME." They say this to remember a few important things:

• Your experience of "softness" involves both the cat and your own body parts, like your eyes, hands, and brain.
• Someone else might feel or notice different things about the cat.
• You might feel something different about the cat at another time or in different situations. For example, the cat might scratch you, or it might feel wet or dirty.

What E Prime Is Not

Some languages, like Russian, Arabic, Turkish, and Cantonese, don't always use a separate verb for "to be." However, they still have the idea of "being."

For example, an English speaker might say, "This apple is red." An Arabic speaker might say something like, "This apple red." Most languages can express the idea of a red apple.

An E Prime user chooses to say, "This apple looks red to me." This helps them remember that "seeing red" involves both the apple and the eyes and brain of the person looking at it.

Many English teachers encourage their students to use verbs other than "to be." They believe that using more active verbs makes writing clearer and more interesting. These teachers want to help students write better. They might not agree with the ideas of General Semantics or E Prime.

Different Jobs of 'To Be'

In English, the verb 'to be' can do many different jobs:

• It can talk about who or what something is: The cat is my only pet, The cat is Garfield.
• It can talk about belonging to a group: The cat is an animal.
• It can describe qualities or features: The cat is furry.
• It can be an auxiliary verb (a helping verb): The cat is sleeping, The cat is bitten by the dog.
• It can talk about existence (if something is real or present): There is a cat.
• It can talk about where something is: The cat is here.

See also

In Spanish: E-Prime para niños