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Yeah. And aren't there other verbs that have the same god-like implication as "is"? I was thinking of "to do". If you say something like "X does Y", you're mak
by vectorjohn 11y ago
Yeah. And aren't there other verbs that have the same god-like implication as "is"?
I was thinking of "to do". If you say something like "X does Y", you're making the same kind of assertion E-Prime seems to want to avoid. Seems to me like another loophole.
- jamesroseman 11y agoI think 'to do' differentiates itself from 'to be' in E' because while people use 'to be' to make global declarations of property (e.g. "That movie is bad" vs "I didn't like that movie"), they use 'to do' to make global declarations of action (e.g. "The IRA does bad" vs "The actions of the IRA reflect violence"). While avoiding 'to do' additionally aides in specificity, I believe avoiding 'to be' has a bigger impact, and avoiding both near impossible.