Posted by Mitchell on January 21, 2003, at 8:33:36
In reply to Corrections and Rules--Oddipus and » Mitchell, posted by beardedlady on January 21, 2003, at 8:18:11
> >But many a fool speaks in flawless grammar.
>
> I do too. : )>
Oh? :O> I make mistakes all the time. Correcting others is a sign of my love.
Same with my mom. Some hugs would have worked, too, though.
> > I think I am right on this. When Jimmy Carter said eight percent of our forces are comprised of women, he spoke correctly. If he said our forces are comprised of 8 percent women, he would have erred.
>
> Nope. He erred the first time, too. It's "composed of" or made up of women. The forces comprise--include ...include is not a synonym for comprise. The eight percent mentioned do not include women, they are women.
>contain, consist of--women.
> "The traditional rule states that the whole comprises the parts; the parts compose the whole. ...While this distinction is still maintained by many writers, comprise is increasingly used, especially in the passive, in place of compose. ...That use of comprise is considered unaccceptable by a majority of the Usage Panel." (American Heritage, 2nd College Edition)If you love Mirriam Webster, maybe you can get them to change their usage comments on M-W.com, which say constitute and composed of are synonymous with comprise. Letting others hold their opinions in the face of contradictory evidence is a sign of my love.
> But we rarely change rules.
Perhaps a visit to legislative session would change your mind. And what consistent set of rules to we use to determine when our nation will violently attack and kill residents of another nation?
> ... why bother challenging the rules? If you didn't agree to them, you should not have pressed the "I agree" button.
If I took that as something other than a rhetorical question, I would answer it. If it's not rhetorical, the answers might be obvious, given a little thought.
This is a good example of reasonable and civil debate beardy, but I think we are about to get booted to PBS or PBGrammar.
poster:Mitchell
thread:8860
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20021128/msgs/8923.html