| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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3. Word Choice: New Uses, Common Confusion, and Constraints
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| § 171. include |
| Some writers insist that you should use include only when it is followed by a partial list of the contents of what the subject refers to. Therefore you may write New England includes Connecticut and Rhode Island, but you must use comprise or consist of to provide full enumeration: New England comprises (not includes) Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. This restriction is too strong. Include does not rule out the possibility of a complete listing. Thus the sentence The bibliography should include all the journal articles you have used does not entail that the bibliography must contain something other than journal articles, though it does leave that possibility open. When you want to make clear that the listing is exhaustive, use comprise or consist of to avoid ambiguity. Thus the sentence The task force includes all of the Navy units on active duty in the region allows for the possibility that Marine and Army units are also taking part, where the same sentence with comprise would entail that the task force contained only Navy forces. | 1 |
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compose / comprise. | 2 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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