Cambridge advanced learner's dictionary

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1. p-e-wMay 2023
   The justifications given in that essay leave a really bad taste in my mouth:

   > I believe using "comprised of" is poor writing, because

   > It's completely unnecessary. There are many other ways to say what the writer means by "comprised of". It adds nothing to the language.

   That's true for many, many other words. In fact, most instances of definite and indefinite articles "add nothing to the language", since the actual information is in the noun. Just leave them out, right? "I go house."

   > It's illogical for a word to mean two opposite things.

   "To comprise" and "to be comprised of" contain the same word, but not in the same sense.

   > The etymology of the word does not support "comprised of".

   That's irrelevant to the current meaning of the word. This is called an "etymological fallacy"[1].

   > It's new. Many current Wikipedia readers were taught to write at a time when not one respectable dictionary endorsed "comprised of" in any way. It was barely ever used before 1970.

   Good luck reading Wikipedia, or any newspaper article, if you are uncomfortable with language coined during the past half-century. What exactly is that "Internet" thing people keep talking about? Note that "The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionaries regard the form comprised of as standard English usage."[2]

   The author could have just written "I don't like 'comprised of', and I'm going to impose my preference on everyone else, even though the term has been part of standard contemporary English for a long time."

   [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy

   [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprised_of

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2. devnullbrainMay 2023
   >Note that "The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionaries regard the form comprised of as standard English usage."

   I've never found this a convincing argument. Think of when you use a dictionary: it's because you want to understand a word that you don't understand in its context. If it didn't include all uses, the dictionary wouldn't help you. A dictionary a tool to help consume language.

   If you want help to produce language, you refer to a style guide. The barrier for acceptability is much higher there.

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