In a recent, Dumbth, I called attention to the pervasive, aggressive ignorance, poor thinking, and consequent inefficiency we now see on all sides. In an attempt to help, I offered eighty-one different suggestions that could reverse this distressing state of affairs by improving the ability to reason.

For many years I have had an interest in the general semantics movement, and have suggested that others become involved with it (my Suggestion #81). General semantics, as elaborated by Alfred Korzybski and his numerous followers, encompasses a number of insights, techniques, and devices for improving the way we deal with ourselves, others, and the world around us. This book concerns one of those techniques, startling in its simplicity: the removal of the verb "to be" from our written and spoken utterances, which produces the subset of English known as E-Prime. Like a lever that can open a container of precious things, E-Prime provides an entrance to the large and wonderful world of general semantics.

When most people encounter the notion of E-Prime, they begin to bristle with questions – Why? How? So what? David Bourland and others have spent years addressing such questions, and this volume contains the results.

¹  Reprinted with kind permission of the International Society for General Semantics. To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology, edited by D. David Bourland, Jr., Paul Dennithorne Johnston; International Society for General Semantics, Concord, California, 1991.