schplebordnik:
*comᄋprise v. –tr. comᄋprised, comᄋprisᄋing, comᄋprisᄋes. 1. To consist of; be composed of: “The French got… French Equatorial Africa, comprising several territories” (Alex Shoumatoff). *
–American Heritage Dictionary
Somebody tell those asshats at the American Heritage Dictionary they don’t understand the English language!
Ahem:
The whole comprises the parts.
The parts compose the whole.
The whole is composed of the parts.
Carry on.
Excalibre:
[quote=schplebordnik
comᄋprise v. –tr. comᄋprised, comᄋprisᄋing, comᄋprisᄋes. 1. To consist of; be composed of: “The French got… French Equatorial Africa, comprising several territories” (Alex Shoumatoff).
–American Heritage Dictionary
Somebody tell those asshats at the American Heritage Dictionary they don’t understand the English language![/quote]
Huh? AHED got it right here: “The United Kingdom is composed of” and “the United Kingdom comprises” are equally correct, and have the same meaning, at least where I’m from. I’m with the dictionary on this one. (“The United Kingdom is comprised of” seems to be a common error, but it’s at best non-standard, and if you use it in formal writing you’re gonna look like a durn fool.)
It’s also redundant. “Composed of of”?
Crap. Could a passing Mod please fix my coding up there?
Grey
February 24, 2004, 8:26pm
64
Perhaps, but if we go by The Scotsman , brogue is acceptable.
I think burr gets tagged to a Highland accent, so we both win.
Golly, Jeff – I didn’t even read the AHD definition, I just assumed that since someone was citing AHD for the correctitude of “comprised of,” that it was actually set down that way – largely because AHD is notorious for including outrageously incorrect definitions of words, without usage notes, on the basis of the error being common amongst gasoline-huffing grade-school dropouts.
God, I hate that dictionary. It’s like the Anti-OED.