E Prime

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

E Prime is English without the words "be," "is," "are," "am," "was," or "were". E Prime does not have "to be". Instead, an E Prime writer or speaker uses the words "become," "remain," and "equal". E Prime is not part of Basic English. Basic English has more words and is more difficult.

Some Simple English writers encourage using "become," "remain," and "equal," because they think these words are more exact.

E Prime is suitable for people born with Languages Other Than English (LATE) where the verb TO-BE is absent. These LATE languages include Cantonese, and in a way also Russian ("is" is not used).

Along with the absence of TO-BE verbs, these languages often do not have the various Perfect-Tenses of English: Past-Future-Present, and the Continuous tenses. To work around these shortcomings for LATE people, E Prime is modified.

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