E-prime

I've had some questions regarding E-prime... what it is and why it is important.

This is the simplified version. For practical primers and detailed history, go here or here or here.

E-prime (or English Prime) is a variation on standard English that eliminates all forms of the verb "to be." When speaking or writing in E-prime you cannot say that X "is" Y... instead you need to find a way to describe the actions of X, rather than trying to impart some unprovable essence to it.

As an example, in E-prime you could not say "dogs are irritating..." you would have to rephrase the statement as something like "dogs irritate me."

The benefits of this may not be readily apparent, but they are actually quite profound, particularly when it comes to clarifying opinions, philosophies and debates.

You see, any statement that contains a variation of the verb "to be" imparts an invisible, untouchable, ghostly essence to something... and that essence cannot be evaluated scientifically. It cannot be proven or disproven.

For example, it is not possible to prove or disprove that grass "is" green, because there can be considerable debate as to what constitutes the essence of green-ness. In E-prime, you would have to say instead something like "the grass reflects green light waves and absorbs red light waves," a statement that actually tells us far more about how the world actually functions.

E-prime is phenomenological... it describes what things do instead of what they are.

This is especially useful during moral or ethical debates, since it prevents the use of non-functioning, dogmatic statements like "abortion is wrong," which really aren't debatable, since they can't be proven or disproven.

In E-prime, the statement "abortion is wrong" would have to be rendered as something like "abortion undermines the value of human life and causes lasting harm to the woman undergoing the procedure and to society in general."

The first statement can't be adequately addressed; attempts to do so are liable to degenerate into a shouting match.

The second statement can be broken apart, examined and evaluated from a rational standpoint.

E-prime forces precision and clarity and eliminates dogmatic opinion.

Some more examples:

Milk is good for you. --> Milk contains many nutrients which assist in maintaining overall health.

Pizza is the best food ever. --> I enjoy pizza more than any other food.

Health is more important than money. --> I would rather have good health than have lots of money.

Sue is an alcoholic. --> Sue drinks almost daily and has alienated many of her family and friends as a result of her incessant drunkeness.

E-prime is the language of truth. --> E-prime only allows for operational or phenomenological statements. This helps us avoid many of the pitfalls and fallacies inherent in standard English, and renders our statements more clear and precise.