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E-Prime The True The Beautiful Davine Analysis

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In the essay, “E-Prime: The True, the Beautiful, the Devine,” Ron W. Wheeler convincingly conveys that, “Judiciously controlling the use of English Prime offers communicators an efficient and effective tool for revision to powerfully express the actual, the artistic, and the eternal.” Writing in E-Prime involves the removal of am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been, also known as “to be” verbs, from written and oral communication. Thus, argued by Wheeler, creating overall stronger communication. Five literary contexts provide the opportunity for “to be” verbs to occur. Those contexts include formation of progressive tenses, formation of passive voice, expressions of existence, expressions of identification, and expressions of quality. However, the frequent occurrence of “to be” verbs in these contexts develop into a “linguistic crutch”. Whereas, E-Prime provides more effective communication. The excessive use of “to be” verbs blurs the line between opinion and fact. Wheeler explains this concept using the example of a boy named Jack. Description such as, “Jack habitually submits his homework three to four days late”, instead of, “Jack is lazy”, depicts what took place instead of slapping the character trait “lazy” to Jack’s name. The first…show more content…
E-Prime does not only serve as a point of revision in communication. Therefore, the divine aspect does not involve elimination of “to be” verbs. Instead, the “judicious” use of such verbs helps distinction occur between the temporary and the eternal. For example, when the disciples say, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God”, their communication did not become weakened. Instead, its strength shines through from the “careful and accurate” use of a “to be” verb. This declarative use of “to be” shows that Christ’s identification takes place a part from time and “communicates his eternal, unchangeable function to
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