Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M2581

E-Prime

E-Prime
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

A writing constraint: completely avoid using any form of the verb "to be" (is, am, are, was, were). This forces the writer to find more specific verbs, avoiding vague definitions like "A is B" and instead describing "A did B" or "A seems like B".

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Eliminate vagueness. Instead of writing "He is lazy" (using the verb to be), write "He slept until noon" (a specific action). E-Prime forces granularity in imagery.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

A writing constraint from general semantics that completely forbids any form of the verb to be (is/am/are/was/were). The mechanism is that the verb to be easily creates false static equivalences ("A is B"), forcing the writer to use specific verbs to describe processes/actions, thereby reducing vagueness, absolutism, and binary judgments.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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