The alt.usage.english FAQ   

• E-prime

  (Artificial Dialects)
  
  

  
     E-prime is a subset of standard idiomatic English that eschews
  all forms of the verb "to be" (e.g., you can't say "You are an ass"
  or "You an ass", but you can say "You act like an ass").  The
  original reference is D. David Bourland, Jr., "A linguistic note:
  write in E-prime" _General Semantics Bulletin_, 1965/1966, 32 and
  33, 60-61.  Albert Ellis wrote a book in E-prime (_Sex and the
  Liberated Man_).  You can also look at the April 1992 issue of the
  _Atlantic_ if you're interested.  (We're not.)  The following book
  contains articles both pro and con on E-Prime:  _To Be or Not: An
  E-Prime Anthology_, ed. D. David Bourland and Paul D. Johnston,
  International Society for General Semantics, 1991, ISBN
  0-918970-38-5.  
  

  
  
  Source: [Mark Israel, 'Artificial Dialects: E-prime', The alt.usage.english FAQ file,(line 921), (29 Sept 1997)]
  
  
  
  

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