English Query - Use of 'comprised'

Ciaran

Registered User
Messages
142
I'm writing a report at the moment and I need to say:

'X had completed this study and it comprised a detailed analysis of ....'

Is it correct as it stands or is 'comprised of' considered more correct?
Thanks,

Ciara
 
"comprised a detalied analysis" is dictionary correct "comprised of" is an idiom.

I'd say either/or.
 
Without the "of" is the correct use but yes, you do see "of" used. For a report, I'd leave out the "of" myself.

Sprite
 
I'm writing a report at the moment and I need to say:

'X had completed this study and it comprised a detailed analysis of ....'

Is it correct as it stands or is 'comprised of' considered more correct?
Why not just say something like "involved" or something else?

"X had completed ..." sounds clumsy too.
 
You can say "it comprised "or "it is comprised of" but not "it comprised of".

Active versus passive if my memory of Leaving cert English all those years ago is correct.
 
From my dictionary:

USAGE 1 According to traditional usage, comprise means ‘consist of,’ as in : the country comprises twenty states, and should not be used to mean ‘constitute or make up (a whole),’ as in : this single breed comprises 50 percent of the Swiss cattle population. But confusion has arisen because of uses in the passive, which have been formed by analogy with words like compose: when comprise is used in the active (as in : the country comprises twenty states) it is, oddly, more or less synonymous with the passive use of the second sense (as in : the country is comprised of twenty states). Such passive uses of comprise are common and are fast becoming part of standard English. 2 On the differences between comprise and include, see usage at include .

Without the of is correct, but with it is becoming more accepted.
 
"X had completed ..." sounds clumsy too.

Don't have a choice with that I'm afraid - am transcribing so that part has to be verbatim. The comprised/of part is my own insertion.
 
Back
Top