How to Apply *Semantic Hygiene* with E-Prime
If you wish to learn and understand more about E-Prime, it's history and relation to General Semantics then please visit the links contained on this web site.
For those who would like the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Short and Simple) treatment, the following summarises how to structure your thoughts including alternatives to the illustrious 'to be' verbs such as "is" and "am" etc.
Phrases that Undelete 'Point of View'
X says that, X believes, X asserts that, In X's opinion, X hold's the view, In X's view, X assumes that, In X's appreciation, In X's understanding, X perceives that, In X's perception, X insists that, X claims, From X's point of view, X said yesterday that, X pronounces that, X pronounced that, X holds that, X holds the opinion that, X has pronounced that, X thinks that, X has the view that, X maintains that, X affirms that, X made it known that, X maintains that, X asserts that, X alleges that, X suggests that, X imagines that, X estimates that, In X's estimation, X claims that, X observes that, According to X, X declares that, X has declared that, In X's observation, X observes that, X contends that, X has argued that
Phrases that Replace 'to be'
accords with, acts like, acts as if, represents, resembles, seems like, simulates, apes, approaches, approximates, approximates to, behaves like, smells like, sounds like, symbolizes, takes after, tallies with, tastes like, typifies, caricatures, coincides with, compares with, conforms with, copies, correlates with, corresponds to, corresponds with, cross maps to, depicts, duplicates, emulates, epitomizes, equals, equates to, illustrates, imitates, impersonates, likens to, looks like, matches, means, echoes, mirrors, models, moves like, paraphrases, passes for, performs like, portrays, poses like, reflects, acts in the manner of, postures in the style of, imitates the behavior of, behaves in the manner of, has the attributes of, behaves in like manner to, can be modeled upon, demonstrates the behavior of, echoes the behavior of, maneuvers in the style of, patterns itself on, matches that of, can be modeled as, employs tactics like, follows the pattern of, follows the behavior of, follows the same patterns as, follows the path of, has the attributes of, has similar characteristics to, has the same characteristics as, has some of the same characteristics as, reflects the behavior of, replicates the behavior of, has some of the characteristics of (Non-exhaustive list.)
Example: The dog "is" stupid. becomes… In my view, the dog behaves stupidly.
Recomposed from an original E-Prime Tutorial by Dan Scorpio.