Gratuitous Grammatical Gimmickry

Whoever thought up the idea of E-Prime seems like a genius. While it certainly does not appear suitable for use at all times, this does not eliminiate its usefulness in particular circumstances.

Simply put, E-Prime advocates the elimination of all forms of the verb ‘to be’ from language, forcing everything to be phrased in the subjective rather than the objective. Try it next time you are writing a political opinion. It forces you to behave quite differently, and all in all encourages a more reasonable approach to things. Fascinating – though I would note I find it reasonably difficult…