E-Prime...Classic or Dud?

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Y'know, E-Prime, not using any "is/are/to be" forms in writing, what say ye...classic or dud?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 18:12 (twenty-three years ago)

I had an english teacher in high school who only let us use "is/are/to be" once in our papers because "there are so many other good verbs out there." Ummm... classic. She was the best teacher I ever had.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 19:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Rules of writing are only good in reaction to a type of bad writing, I think.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 19:46 (twenty-three years ago)

optimus prime!

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 19:46 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

"English speakers most often use "to be" to express dogmatic beliefs or assumptions or to avoid expressing opinions and feelings as such."

This idea interests me enough to give it a try, e-prime seems a good way to promote a view of the world that befriends multiplicity instead of frozen, static condition.

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 6 February 2005 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I went on an e-prime kick a few years ago. I wrote everything in e-prime from personal emails to technical specs at work. I just did it for fun, really. Amazingly, it lasted for a month. Even after a month, it never became particularly natural to write in e-prime, however.

I personally don't think that using e-prime makes the writer less dogmatic, either in fact or in perception. I think, in fact, that belief seems quite Whorfian.

this non-dogmatic ilx post was written in e-prime (except for this sentence)

― mikef-who-mostly-lurks (mfleming), Monday, 7 February 2005 05:05 (twenty-one years ago)

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