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Avangi Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary

Including this and that

Hi,

I'm having trouble with "including." It seems to me that it should be a preposition or a conjunction - or an adverb, like "besides." Of course, everybody lists it as a present participle.

My Am. Herit. doesn't give it a separate listing. MW Unabridged lists it only as an adjective: an including membrane

I'm puzzled.

Edit. Hmmm, I suppose I can just take it together with whatever follows as a participial phrase. But then it would have to be adjectival, right?

Thanks, -A.
  

Top answer

hi, To my surprise, my Canadian Oxford Dictionary lists it as a preposition. Clive

— Clive

  • hi, To my surprise, my Canadian Oxford Dictionary lists it as a preposition.
  • Clive
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4 Answers
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hi,
To my surprise, my Canadian Oxford Dictionary lists it as a preposition.

Clive
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Thanks, Clive. That makes me feel a whole lot better. I was beginning to think I was the only one who was crazy. Most of my Canadian friends think we do everything all wrong down here.

Anyway, it sounds like a preposition.

Thanks again. - A.
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Well, after all, isn't except a preposition? And, historically, isn't it really a short form of excepting?

Everyone was there except(ing) me.
Everyone was there including me.

So both would have to be prepositions if one is. No???

It seems to me that I read somewhere that all prepositions used to be verbs way back in the fog of history.
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I'm feeling better about this by the moment. I believe I'll have another drink!
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