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by dragonwriter 4146 days ago
> Language is comprised of rules that change over time. If everyone understands a sentence, how can it be incorrect?

In the case of misuses of "comprise" like yours, because everyone doesn't understand it: when the phrase "is comprised of" is used, its not clear if the meaning is "is composed of" or "includes", which indicates a potentially non-exhaustive listing of constituents, or "comprises", which indicates an exhaustive listing of constituents.

The preservation of clear, distinct, and precise uses improves the ability to communicate ideas. Truly, language usage evolves over time, but it evolves due to the aggregation of choices people make, and those choices can improve or hinder communication. It is good to make those choices with open eyes -- and to advocate for better choices and against worse ones.
1 comments
bweitzman 4146 days ago
I don't think the distinction between exhaustive and non-exhaustive constituents is something that most people would pick up on.

Using overly precise wordage that not everybody understands is just as bad as not being precise enough. In fact, it might even be worse: if you detect some ambiguity, you can ask for clarification. If you don't know the difference in words, you can't even tell that you don't know and might interpret the sentence incorrectly.

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rayiner 4146 days ago
> I don't think the distinction between exhaustive and non-exhaustive constituents is something that most people would pick up on.

I imagine this sentence made a lot of programmers and lawyers twitch.

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dctoedt 4146 days ago
>> I don't think the distinction between exhaustive and non-exhaustive constituents is something that most people would pick up on.

> I imagine this sentence made a lot of programmers and lawyers twitch.

Patent lawyers especially. In a patent claim, the difference between comprising and consisting of can be crucial. [1]

[1] http://www.bios.net/daisy/patentlens/2618.html

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bweitzman 4146 days ago
Programmers and lawyers are not most people.
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jameshart 4146 days ago
Which is why the edits this guy has been making have generally been to eliminate the 'is comprised of' usage, not to replace it with 'comprises', but to replace it with clearer, unambiguous forms.
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