Is there any difference between the following sentences:
?
More generally, is there any difference between “Y, inclusive of X”, “Y, including X” and “Y, X included”?
In the given context, most of readers would understand that you are setting a limit.
inclusive of can be considered as an idiom which means including. The last sentence is also okay (at least to my ears) but differently written (a matter of style).
Many dictionaries identify “inclusive of” as an idiom which means “including”.
I think there is a difference, and that the sense of sentence #1 above is distinct from sentences #2 and #3.
A clue comes from the alternate forms of “inclusive”, in particular “inclusiveness”. This word establishes a set or limiting boundary in its denotative meaning, but it also implies a value judgment in its connotative meaning. In addition to the meaning of encompassing a stated limit, it suggests a posture of welcoming and openness.
By contrast, “including” or “included” has no such direct connotation.
Thus, the sense of sentence #1 reads to me as: "Paper submissions must be no more than six pages in length, including figures and references, which are welcome and encouraged.”
This is unlikely to be the connotation intended by the writer, and consider for instance this related sentence:
Now, this similarly suggests that figures and references are unwelcome and discouraged, which probably distorts the meaning intended by the writer.
