An additional possibility is that the writer has seen 'constitute' in sentences in which it is followed by an 'as' for additional reasons, and then came to the conclusion that the verb "wants" that particular preposition. From a students' perspective, it's very easy to believe that highly formal verbs demand particular prepositions — after all, a lot of them do. There are a few uses of that verb that do get a following "as":

The committee was constituted as a means to provide input to the process.
The committee constitutes as great an impediment to getting work done as a middling case of the flu would.

Apparently, "to constitute as" used to be slightly more frequent (based on a quick search of http://corpus2.byu.edu/coha/ ), particularly in the sense of "be the kind of _____ that":

 A modern critic remarks, that it was a great piece of folly in so wise a man, to allow himself to be so much affected by so slight a cause; but he did not recollect that if Racine had been so constituted as to support with indifference the attacks of critics and the displeasure of Louis XIV, he could not possibly have written [h]is exquisite tragedies.  (from "Tone of British Criticism," The American Review, July 1830, pp. 27-66).


--- Bill Spruiell


From: John Dews <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: ATEG English Grammar <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 12:11 PM
To: ATEG English Grammar <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: constitutes as or constitutes

My initial impression is that the writer simply may not have a strong grasp on the meaning of "to constitute." He or she may have semantically mixed the traditional meaning of "to constitute" with a more complex verb such as "to pass off" + a PP beginning with "as." Perhaps the intended meaning was something more akin to "Reading a lot illuminates what passes itself off as good and bad writing..." It's just a theory, but my students often produce these types of unintended semantic mash-ups. I'm sure there are a number of other possible explanations though.

John

On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 9:16 AM, Martha Galphin <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Why would one write "what constitutes as" as opposed to simpler and in my opinion the correct "constitutes"?
"Constitutes" is a transitive verb not an intransitive verb. Example sentence where the incorrect use was found follows: "Reading a lot illuminates what constitutes as good and bad writing. . . ." Why not Reading a lot illuminates what constitutes good and bad writing."

I'd really appreciate a direct answer responding to "constitutes as" vs. "constitutes"
for use in class today.

Thank you.

Martha Galphin













To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/