The History of Writing E-Prime

The linguist, D. David Bourland, a student of the famous linguist Alfred Korzybski, coined the term “E-Prime” in a 1965 essay entitled “A Linguistic Note: Writing in E-Prime.” The academic community expressed both support and condemnation of Bourland’s attacking the verb “to be.”
Returning to Korzybski’s writings, Bourland discovered that the verb “to be” did, indeed create problems in both understanding and meaning. For example, the sentence "The coat is red" has no observer, whereas the sentence "We see the coat as red" (where "we" indicates observers) appears more correct as to the facts about light waves and color as modern scientific observation proves: color results from a reaction in the human brain. This idea was not without controversy.
One commentator wrote: Examine the verbs of the "to be" family and you will find a startling underlying assumption. The words be, been, is, was, am, were, etc., have their logical basis in the idea that things stay the same. The notion of identity — a thing's absolute sameness with a similar thing or with itself over time — has confused and corrupted thinking since the days of Aristotle.
She further notes that life means change: growth, learning, metamorphosis, decay. Even the apparently changeless earth changes, as moving plates push up mountains or split continents apart. Today we often experience rapid social and technological change. Yet our daily language has at its foundation the assumption that things don't change, an assumption that helps us focus and therefore "understand," but also leads us astray when we act as if things haven't changed, and they have. How can we deal with this "two-edged sword" that both helps and hinders us in our daily lives?
E-Prime is a new variant of English that eliminates the verbs of the "to be" family, makes us aware of the problem, and offers one solution: avoid “to be” as the “equals sign.” Some of the benefits are lively, concise writing and speaking; clearer, more critical thinking; better communication, evaluation and decision-making.

sources: wikipedia.com; Bourland’s article “A Linguistic Note: Writing in E-Prime”