A few years ago a man interviewed on NPR news violently arguing a strange cause. The man was a well-spoken extremely literate man who essentially called for a new world order. Had his idea been passed it would have changed the country and most of the world as we know it. His cause: to eliminate use of the verb “to be.”

“To be,” and it’s conjugations “I am, you/we/they are, he/she/it is, I/you/they have been, I/he/she was, you/they were, etc.” are static sentences. They don’t move or give any context. They imply permanence. The man on NPR argued that “to be” has no action. All it only introduces a noun.

The sentence “He is arrogant” implies “He always has and always will behave arrogantly.” That may be what you are trying to state, but if that is so, you should state it clearly. A better moving sentence is “He behaved arrogantly last week at dinner.” He may change his tune next week, making your sentence false. Static sentences create the problem of “right” and “wrong.”

Another example, “She is a student.” You can state this better by saying “She goes to college right now,” because once she graduates, the first sentence will be wrong. “She goes to college right now” will never be wrong because the sentence mentions it’s temporariness. Also, “she is a student” puts her in a box of being a student. She (whoever SHE is) probably views herself as much more than a student. She may play the role of student, but also sister, daughter, girlfriend, writer, comedian, etc.

Static sentences introduce this most dangerous problem. They place people in boxes that place permanent labels. “You are funny,” “you are boring,” “you are smart,” “you are dumb,” “you are rich,” “you are poor,” etc. mean nothing because they lack context. Without context they freeze your mind to not grow or change or develop. Delete “to be” from you vocabulary. Move you words. Move your life.