Shall constitute: Difference between revisions

Shall constitute (view source)

373 bytes added , 15 November 2022

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-A legal way of saying “is”. It scores over [[to be]] in that it is highly regular: the different forms of a given tense require no [[conjugation]]:
+{{a|drafting|}}A legal way of saying “is”. It scores over [[to be]] in that it is highly ''regular'': the different forms of a given tense require no [[conjugation]]:
 I ''shall constitute''   |  I ''am''<br>
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 They ''shall constitute''   |  They ''are''<br>
-On the other hand it is an execrable verb. Worse, even than [[to be]]. Using it makes one sound pompous and quite dim.
+On the other hand it is arguably most violent offender against the norms of plain English. There could not be a simpler, plainer word than ''be''. It is the first word non-English speakers learn on the long journey to being culturally hegemonised. There is no-one who knows anything about English who doesn’t know, innately what it means.
+“Constitute” adds nothing to “be”. It is no more specific, no more precise, there is no nuance of meaning it captures that “be” does not.
-{{plainenglish}}