Document Type
Thesis - University Access Only
Award Date
1997
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department / School
English
First Advisor
John W. Taylor
Abstract
This thesis examines not only the theory, but more importantly, the practice of E-Prime as a rhetorical tool to aid freshman composition students. Freshman composition students at South Dakota State University find difficulty in incorporating active verbs in their writing; they rely heavily on all the to be constructions. In particular, their writing exhibits excessive passive voice. This use of passive voice creates unclear, wordy, agentless sentences which readers find difficult to understand. Including the other to be constructions also indicates unchanging identity and predication in the content, inaccurately depicting the continuously changing world. This thesis argues for teaching and writing E-Prime in the composition classroom and grounds itself not only in the theory of Alfred Korzybski, who attempted to revise the static identity and predication employed by Aristotelian systems, but also in the practice of D. David Bourland and E.W. Kellogg Ill. Very simply, they proposed to eradicate the undesirable constructions by omitting all to be verbs from writing. This application of E-Prime results in active writing, clarity, and revision. The structure of the thesis will include a literature review, some theoretical observations, a discussion of current practice in SDSU 101 classrooms obtained from surveying instructors and students, some practical classroom assignments which instructors have incorporated into their curricula, and a glossary of terminology dealing with E-prime.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
English language -- Rhetoric -- Study and teaching
English language – Semantics
English language -- Verb
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Miller, Sally, "Writing with the Rhetorical Tool of E-Prime" (1997). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2070.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd2/2070
Rights Statement
