December 02, 2007

Including or such as

Crimes are crimes, nothing more and nothing less. But a report that landed the desk the other day defined crimes with an abused 'including' --- 'serious crimes including the arrest of a criminal with arms happened...' The arrest of criminals is a crime of a sort and an arrest with firearms is a crime of a more serious nature. 'Including' defines the nature of the phrase that precedes it; it does not make any addition. 'Three people, including a dog...' only equates dogs with humans.

'Including' is also misused in cases where 'such as' fits in. 'Concentrated urbanisation is typical of cities such as Khulna, Chittagong and Rajshahi.' An 'including' would have made the sentence go wrong. But the use of 'including' in 'the government will set up the plants in four cities including Khulna and Rajshahi' is correct. 'Such as' explains the nature of the phrase that precedes it.

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