Difference between Exemplify and to be an example of

[rajan]

Hi!

Could you please answer the following question :

Is there any difference between "exemplify" and "to be an example of" ? Can they both be interchanged ?

For example : a) Jeans and T-Shirts exemplifies American Fashion.

b) Jeans and T-Shirts are an example of American Fashion.

 

[Rover_KE]

The subject of the sentence is plural.

a) Jeans and T-Shirts exemplify American fashion.

b) Jeans and T-Shirts are examples of American fashion.

Bob's your uncle.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi!

Could you please answer the following question?

Is there any difference between "exemplify" and "to be an example of"? [STRIKE]Can[/STRIKE] Are they [STRIKE]both[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]be interchanged[/STRIKE] interchangeable?

For example:

a) Jeans and T-shirts exemplify American fashion.

b) Jeans and T-shirts are [STRIKE]an[/STRIKE] examples of American fashion.

Note my corrections above. Don't put a space before a comma, full stop, colon, semi-colon, question mark or exclamation mark.

 

[rajan]

Can sombody take trouble to answer my question please?

 

[PeterCW]

The answer is no. The differences may seem subtle at first and some dictionaries aren't very clear about them but "exemplify" is far stronger than just "an example".

 

[PeterCW]

Just to add a note about spaces and punctuation. You may find examples of spaces before question and exclamation marks in old books but the practice is archaic and shouldn't be followed.