prepositions - "Made of" vs "made from"


An English book tells me that the following sentence is correct:



This publication is made from paper from sustainable forests.



Shouldn't it be of paper instead?



Answer



There's no issue of should/shouldn't involved here - it's just a stylistic choice.


I think the writer in this case chose to use from because made of more strongly implies that the publication is nothing more than paper, whereas from carries more the implication of using (perhaps along with other ingredients).


That's to say, the publication in total is made from/using many things (including the labour of the writer, publisher, etc). And possibly some old recycled rags, since pure wood-pulp paper isn't always of the best quality.


A similar situation arises with toilet rolls, which are often claimed to be made from recycled paper. The manufacturers know perfectly well that toilet paper made entirely of recycled paper isn't actually much good. They don't want to call attention to the fact that there is probably some fresh wood-pulp in the mix; using the word from helps present things the way they want.


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