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Subject:Re: To be or not: An E-prime inquiry From:Michael LaTorra <mikel -at- ACCUGRAPH -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 6 May 1994 11:02:34 MDT
I heard the author of _TO BE OR NOT_ discussing E-Prime
on the radio *without once violating the E-Prime directive*
which impressed me. (BTW, "E-Prime directive" sounds like linguistic
Star Trek.) But after trying E-Prime for a while, I found that
its contribution to tightening my prose was sometimes outweighed
by its restrictiveness. The state of existence is a fact; *to be* IS!
I'm not opposed to E-Prime as an exercise. But as Marguerite Krupp
stated so well yesterday:
I tend to lump initiatives like E-prime, Information Mapping, Caterpillar
Basic English (or whatever its successors are called now), etc., with
bra-burning and the novel that someone wrote without using the letter "e"
at all. They're all examples of an idea, good in itself, taken to an
extreme to make a point. Then it becomes something of a religion, and the
point gets lost.
That's it!
Live long & prosper,
Mike LaTorra
Documentation Supervisor
Accugraph Inc.
mikel -at- huey -dot- accugraph -dot- com
