# A very quick and boring rant - Imply vs. infer. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 26, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229 "2004-10-26T14:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/21 "2004-10-27T04:06:00Z")
> [@shamrock227](#): > > …_ **Irregardless** _ is like nails on the chalkboard to me. Yeah, we all know the correct word is “disregardless.” ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/22 "2004-10-27T04:08:45Z")
My own hobby horse: “comprised of.” These two words never, ever go together. Correct: The symphony comprises four movements. Correct: The symphony consists of four movements. Wrong: The symphony is comprised of four movements. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/23 "2004-10-27T04:12:11Z")
These are all mute points. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/24 "2004-10-27T05:30:44Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > My own hobby horse: “comprised of.” These two words never, ever go together. > > Correct: The symphony comprises four movements. > > Correct: The symphony consists of four movements. > > Wrong: The symphony is comprised of four movements. Are you sure about the “the symphony comprises four movements” part? I had thought that “X comprise(s) Y” denoted element(s) X forming the entirety of set Y. So, “the four movements comprise the symphony”. I grant that the discrepancy could be merely connotational; your example could be technically accurate while sounding wrong. But if this is the case, it doesn’t make it sound any less odd…seems kinda like saying “the bag is one hundred M&Ms” instead of “there are 100 M&Ms in the bag”. Am I off base here, or does that example seem backwards to anyone else? Note: I’m actually a closet descriptivist, but why derail a perfectly good discussion of a system just because I don’t believe the system is valid? Debating rules is fun. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/25 "2004-10-27T06:42:05Z")
Here’s my pet peeve: “The orchestra reached a crescendo.” That’s like saying, “My car reached an accelerate.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/26 "2004-10-27T06:56:35Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Here’s my pet peeve: “The orchestra reached a crescendo.” That’s like saying, “My car reached an accelerate.” As much as I enjoyed that, I must protest. It is quite common for an orchestra to play music to the score, and eventually reach the passage that is marked with the elongated “\< sign” that is known as a “crescendo.” When they do, it is cusomtary for the musicians to continue playing to the score, but louder than before. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/27 "2004-10-27T07:07:41Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > As much as I enjoyed that, I must protest. It is quite common for an orchestra to play music to the score, and eventually reach the passage that is marked with the elongated “\< sign” that is known as a “crescendo.” When they do, it is cusomtary for the musicians to continue playing to the score, but louder than before. Ha, ha. I’ve heard it used in another way, though. Many people confuse the word _crescendo_ with _climax_. What you’re talking about is playing to the crescendo _marking_, which a person might, in casual speech, refer to as simply “the crescendo” (i.e. “the crescendo is in bar seven”), but that’s not what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/28 "2004-10-27T09:49:48Z")
“I’m an American, aren’t I?” “Yes, and I are too.” ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/29 "2004-10-27T15:18:41Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Sort of a long story but I swear I have a relevant point: I founded a Toastmasters club at my company, and among the roles at every meeting are a grammarian and a Toastmaster-of-the-Day (TOTD). The grammarian comments on the various speakers’ and other participants’ grammar, and is also tasked with providing a word-of-the-day for the meeting, which the TOTD puts on the meeting agenda and the meeting’s impromptu speakers are encouraged to use. Whenever someone is scheduled to be TOTD for the first time, I ask them to send me the agenda two hours before the meeting so that I can look it over and make sure all of the meeting elements are on it. > > (Here comes my point–finally!) > > Before last Thursday’s meeting I received the agenda from the TOTD, and the word-of-the-day was “irregardless.” When my eye stopped twitching I composed a two-paragraph e-mail expounding on the evils of “irregardless,” and explained that the grammarian would have to provide a new word of the day. The TOTD replied, “well, he picked that word on purpose as a sort of _anti_-word-of-the-day, and he plans to explain why it shouldn’t be used.” > > :smack: > > I felt a little silly about my rant, but my faith in that meeting’s grammarian was restored. 😃 When did “task” become a verb? ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/30 "2004-10-27T16:13:32Z")
> [@Roland Orzabal](#): > > Are you sure about the “the symphony comprises four movements” part? The strict meaning has, indeed, shifted somewhat, so my hobby horse is getting increasingly lame. From [here](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=comprise): > [@](#): > > com·prise ( P ) Pronunciation Key (km-prz) > tr.v. com·prised, com·pris·ing, com·pris·es > [ul][li]To consist of; be composed of: “The French got… French Equatorial Africa, comprising several territories” (Alex Shoumatoff). [/li][li]To include; contain: “The word ‘politics’… comprises, in itself, a difficult study of no inconsiderable magnitude” (Charles Dickens). See Synonyms at include. [/li][li]Usage Problem. To compose; constitute: “Put together the slaughterhouses, the steel mills, the freight yards… that comprised the city” (Saul Bellow). [/ul][/li] > Usage Note: The traditional rule states that the whole comprises the parts and the parts compose the whole. In strict usage: The Union comprises 50 states. Fifty states compose (or constitute or make up) the Union. Even though careful writers often maintain this distinction, comprise is increasingly used in place of compose, especially in the passive: The Union is comprised of 50 states. Our surveys show that opposition to this usage is abating. In the 1960s, 53 percent of the Usage Panel found this usage unacceptable; in 1996, only 35 percent objected. So, the traditional rule would only allow “the symphony comprises four movements,” wherease the newer usage that’s appearing would also allow “the symphony is comprised of four movements” or “four movements comprise the symphony.” By substituting “consist of” for “comprise” in that first “new usage” example, we get “the symphony is consisted of of four movements.” Doing the same to the second, we get “four movements consist of the symphony.” Not pretty. Given the slipperiness of the definition, it’s probably best to avoid “comprise” completely! ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/31 "2004-10-27T16:59:24Z")
Deduce, you say! ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/32 "2004-10-27T17:21:48Z")
> [@trandallt](#): > > When did “task” become a verb? When [Merriam-Webster](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=task&x=15&y=15) first defined it as a transitive verb (“to assign a task to”). 😛 ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/33 "2004-10-27T18:00:11Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > “I’m an American, aren’t I?” > > “Yes, and I are too.” What other way is there to say that while still avoiding both the stilted “am I not?” and the slang “ain’t I?” ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/34 "2004-10-27T20:31:33Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > When [Merriam-Webster](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=task&x=15&y=15) first defined it as a transitive verb (“to assign a task to”). 😛 I did not see that definition in the link provided, but I did see it defined as a transitive verb, however, so hush my mouth on that score. Your construction still sounds a little clunky to me; I suspect it is because you have “task” as an intransitive verb. A transitive verb requires a direct object. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229/35 "2004-10-27T22:22:25Z")
> [@trandallt](#): > > I did not see that definition in the link provided, but I did see it defined as a transitive verb, however, so hush my mouth on that score. Yeah, I couldn’t get a link to the transitive verb’s definition (I could only access it from the noun’s definition), but I figured you’d figure it out. 😉 > [@](#): > > _Your construction still sounds a little clunky to me; I suspect it is because you have “task” as an intransitive verb. A transitive verb requires a direct object._ Oh, I’m not really trying to defend myself: you’re absolutely right that I shouldn’t have used “tasked” in that way. Bad, bad tech writer. But it doesn’t make “task” less of a verb, just an abused one. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-quick-and-boring-rant-imply-vs-infer/271229.md?page=1)