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Post by bandit on Sept 22, 2013 16:36:55 GMT -5
Comprise only means "consist of." That is, you can say "The USA comprises of fifty states" but you can't say "Fifty states comprise the USA."
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Post by Christmas Chief on Sept 22, 2013 16:42:26 GMT -5
In an attempt to answer Charlie's question, I was reading about the matter just a few moments ago. As it happens, "comprises of" is apparently incorrect - the supposedly correct form is simply "comprises," a fact about which I was certainly unaware.
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Post by bandit on Sept 22, 2013 17:00:51 GMT -5
Pardon, my example above should have been "The USA comprises fifty states." Comprises "of" is indeed incorrect, and the "of" is only used in the past tense. So the sentence would be "The USA comprised of fifty states", not "The USA comprised fifty states."
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Post by Hermes on Sept 22, 2013 17:05:36 GMT -5
That's a new one to me.
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Post by Charlie on Sept 22, 2013 20:41:35 GMT -5
If it weren't for my deeply seeded love of Sherry Ann/ Bee, I'd bee proposing Sherdit or something at the moment. Also, many thank-yous for that explanation. I know I'm getting deeply off topic now, but I do wonder if anyone at 667 has ever encountered this website before: public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.htmlIt has some rather interesting content, which I spend hours of my schooling reading. If you have a lot of spare time, I highly suggest it!
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Post by moseymoo on Sept 23, 2013 5:30:29 GMT -5
If you are interested in getting the intricacies of the English Language correct, you should try the Oxford Dictionaries website: they have a whole section on common errors and grammatical grey areas. I have wasted many an evening perusing those pages!
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