Learn English – Committee, Association and Assembly — What’s the differrence

differencesmeaningword-choiceword-usage

I'm confused by these 3 words and I'm not quite sure what the differences are. I know how council, commission and committee differ, but I can't find it for Assembly and Association. I'm using it for a group of students who shared the same interest and work together to promote their interest to the public. I'm not quite sure what word to use to call them.

Also, for instance, if that interest is higher education and disabilities in the United States of America, should I use 'Association of Higher Education and Disabilities in the USA' or 'Association for Higher Education and Disabilities in the USA' or 'Association on Higher Education and Disabilities in the USA' ?

Thanks

Best Answer

Though Assembly and Association tend to have overlapping meanings:

  • A group of persons gathered together for a common reason, as for a legislative, religious, educational, or social purpose.

  • an organization of people with a common purpose and having a formal structure.

Assembly has also a more specific usage:

a number of people gathered together, esp for a formal meeting held at regular intervals:

  • Example: Assembly The lower house of the legislature in certain U.S. states.

Committee has a more specific meaning:

A group of people officially delegated to perform a function, such as investigating, considering, reporting, or acting on a matter.

  • Example:The Committee for Economic Development is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, business-led, public policy organization that delivers well researched analysis and reasoned solutions to our nation’s most critical issues.

Source: http://www.ced.org/

With respect to the difference between 'Association of Higher Education and Disabilities in the USA' and 'Association for Higher Education and Disabilities in the USA', the first one tends to suggest that the association is a collection of disabled students or teachers, while the second tends to be interpreted more broadly as a collecton of people who are interested in the topic, whether or not they are disabled. Therefore I think in your case Association for is more appropriate.

Note: Freedom of Assembly:

sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend common interests.1 The right to freedom of association is recognized as a human right, political right and civil liberty.

  • Freedom of assembly and freedom of association may be used to distinguish between the freedom to assemble in public places and the freedom of joining an association. Freedom of assembly is often used in the context of the right to protest, while freedom of association is used in the context of labor rights and the Constitution of the United States, is interpreted to mean both the freedom to assemble and the freedom to join an association.

Source:http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_assembly Source:http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Assembly

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