Can deleting the verb 'to be' actually change how we think?

History · Published 20 October 2026 · Updated 20 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Imagine a version of English where you can never say 'I am' or 'It is.' This linguistic restriction, known as E-Prime, aims to strip away the 'deity mode' of speech. By banning the copula, proponents argue we can move from dogmatic pronouncements to precise, action-oriented reality.

E-Prime (English-Prime) is a restricted form of English that excludes all forms of the verb 'to be,' including 'am,' 'is,' 'are,' 'was,' and 'were.' It was devised in the late 1940s by D. David Bourland Jr. as an extension of Alfred Korzybski’s general semantics. While some scholars believe it clarifies thinking and strengthens writing, others argue it makes communication more obscure and less interesting by removing essential speech patterns like identity and location. The core philosophy behind E-Prime is that the verb 'to be' allows for a 'deity mode of speech.' Critics like Kellogg and Bourland argue that this linguistic habit enables people to magically transform personal opinions into god-like pronouncements on the nature of things. For example, instead of saying 'I am depressed' (an emotionally primed statement), a student might be asked to say 'I feel depressed when...' to encourage a sense of agency and specify the subject of the experience.

In educational settings, Korzybski observed that students who avoided generalizing with the infinitive of 'to be' improved by one full letter grade. The movement has diverse applications. In psychotherapy, Albert Ellis advocated E-Prime to help patients frame psychological distress as temporary and specific. However, the linguistic community remains divided. Some argue that E-Prime is inconsistent with general semantics because it doesn't distinguish between harmful uses of 'to be' and necessary ones, such as describing location or auxiliary actions. Others contend that the context of a sentence often removes any harm, making the total ban on the copula unnecessary for clear communication.

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