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Friday, May 16, 2008

Criminal Sentence 19: Including What?

From something I just edited about a zoo:

"The zoo will be divided into six 'biozones,' including the Guyana Forest, the African Equatorial Forest, the Sahelo-Sudan Savannah, Patagonia, Madagascar and Europe."

The first part of the sentence tells us there are six biozones. Then the sentence lists all six. You can't use the word "including" because you're listing them all. If you want to use "including," you have to give an incomplete list. This is a complete list, so you need to use a colon:

"The zoo will be divided into six 'biozones': the Guyana Forest, the African Equatorial Forest, the Sahelo-Sudan Savannah, Patagonia, Madagascar and Europe."

In a similar vein, I often see sentences such as this:

"The attributes of the vehicle include five-speed transmission, scratch-resistant paint and more."

Please don't use "include" along with "and more" in the same sentence. That is redundant. Just say this:

"The attributes of the vehicle include five-speed transmission and scratch-resistant paint."

Remember that when you use "include," by definition you're giving an incomplete list.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Just what I needed to know.