In the IP, within the personal tools section, there is a lesson on semantics. Ironically, the wording to the lesson has changed since I wrote my response but it remains a really important lesson, especially for an internet forum congregated community like ours.
On this topic, an idea that emerged from Alfred Korzybski’s General Semantics is that the verb ‘to be’ (and associated conjugations, contractions and archaic forms) can be inaccurate, misleading and used manipulatively.
Some argue (particularly in some schools of ‘critical thinking’) that we should use this verb far less, or not at all. When closely considered, I think this idea has merit, as does the ‘new’ language it spawns: E-Prime.
The idea can be illustrated as follows: how often do we construct sentences such as “’X’ is being really annoying” or “ ‘X’ is confused”? ‘Is-ness’ here refers to our subjective views on ‘X’ but the language, both consciously or unconsciously, may frequently be understood as an objective statement of fact regarding a temporary condition, or permanent facet of someone’s persona. What we really mean is that “ ‘X’ really annoys me” or “ ‘X’ seems confused’.
Essentially the number of circumstances we can accurately use “be”, “is”, “was” and so on, may occur far less frequently than the number of times we actually use these words.
Whilst some hard-liners attempt to remove the verb entirely from their vocabulary the hawk-eyed amongst you may have noticed that I have already used ‘is’ twice in this essay (apart from examples). It strikes me that some facts are objectively uncontroversial: “In the IP . . . there is a lesson on semantics” where the ‘is’ can be used without fear of miscommunication. However, we might do well to become more aware of this potentially dangerous little word in many circumstances.
Likewise, when we see this verb used by others, perhaps we can become a little more forgiving and see that people often don’t really mean “is”, “be”, “was” etc when they use it.
If this concept has piqued your interest, please find some resources below that will allow you to dive a little deeper:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime
https://litemind.com/e-prime/
http://web.archive.org/web/20041012070736/objectz.com/columnists/eandd/
http://web.archive.org/web/20041024220023/http://objectz.com/columnists/eandd/part2.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20041025215222/http://objectz.com/columnists/eandd/part3.html
http://www.nobeliefs.com/eprime.htm
http://www.asiteaboutnothing.net/w_eprime.html
