On Feb 18, 8:18*am, "David E. Ross" wrote:
On 2/18/12 12:59 AM, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 17, 8:34 pm, Billy wrote:
In article
,
*Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 15, 3:35 pm, BobWalsh
wrote:
Hi Everybody,
I just published an article about gardenia plants and thought it might
be helpful for some members in this forum....
[...]
*Gardenia* is a genus of flowering plants comprised of about 142 species
belonging to the family of Rubiaceae. Gardenia plants are indigenous to
the tropical and subtropical areas of Africa, Asia and Australia.
[...]
***Bob, I really truly do appreciate your kindness in *posting this
comprehensive article on Gardenias
But something snapped within me key melodramatic music when I read
"comprised of". *This incorrect usage seems to be spreading like
kudzu.
It isn't just you, believe me!
One can say "comprise" with a direct object: *"flowering plants
COMPRISE 142 species...
or
One can say "composed of": * "flowering plants COMPOSED OF" 142
species...
But one ***cannot*** say "comprised of".
There, I got it off my chest. *So why don't I feel better...it's
probably a losing battle. sigh
HB
Huh?
omprise |k?m?pr?z|
verb [ trans. ]
consist of; be made up of : the country comprises twenty states.
make up; constitute : this single breed comprises 50 percent of the
Swiss cattle population | ( be comprised of) documents are comprised of
words. - Oxford American Dictionary
Bad enough to be retentive, but wrong on top of it?
I'"ll' cop to "ėlegant ''.
Oy!
***From one of the many Web sites struggling with this usage":
============
Comprise or Compose?
Comprise means "is made up of" or "consists of." The whole comprises
the parts.
Compose means "make up" or "make." The parts compose the whole.
Incorrect: The rock is comprised of three minerals.
Correct: The rock is composed of three minerals.
Correct: The rock comprises three minerals.
Correct: Three minerals compose the rock.
If you are confused, just say, "The rock is made up of three
minerals," or "Three minerals make up the rock."
==============
People who want to sound intelligent, but are actually ignorant, say
"between you and I", because in the back of their confused little
minds, "you and me" sounds vaguely...not fancy enough. *They also fail
to distinguish between colloquial *usage -- "Who's there?" *"It's me"
and the strictly correct " It is I" which NOBODY says.
Same with "compose" and "comprise". *This tsunami of ignorance has
gained strength in perhaps the last eight to ten years, and is
probably unstoppable,
since hoi polloi does not read, and is often taught in school by
teachers who are lamentably ignorant of grammar and syntax.
HB
You and I are have very similar views on this subject. *See my
http://www.rossde.com/malaprops/index.html.
--
David E. Ross
Climate: *California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary
***Wow, you really went to a lot of trouble & covered a lot of ground.
So far, my hair shirts are stored in a drawer called "Language
Horrors".
One category is "Words often confused and misused: Some examples:
WHO-WHOM
LAY-LIE
COMPOST-COMPRISE
HOME-HONE
MAY-MIGHT
RETICENT-RELUCTANT
PEDAL-PEDDLE
REIGN-REIN
PROSTRATE-PROSTATE
SUSPECT-SUSPICIOUS
INCIDENT-INCIDENCE
(contributions invited)
Actually, WHO-WHOM is a 9th circle of Hell all unto itself. More a
syntax problem than a simple confusion. Sigh So few understand the
difference between the subject of a dependent clause and the object of
a preposition. And if hoi polloi did, they probably wouldn't care.
Then there are larger categories, like
DECLINE OF THE PERFECT TENSE
IN TERMS OF (this is one of my pet hates. People can't think ahead
to frame a sentence; they back in; can't get out fall back on "In
terms of".
Can't
resist an example, Congresscritters are particularly egregious
violators in this regard.
In terms of the contraception debate, there
were only men on a panel about this subject.
Translation: There were only men on a panel
about contraception.
I could go on. But I was shoveling compost, so must get back to that
more rewarding task.
HB