“IS COMPRISED OF” (ACTUAL EXAMPLE)



THE PROBLEM REVEALED AND EXPLAINED:


Explaining this problem is straightforward: the whole comprises the parts.

The parts don’t comprise the whole.

If you think of “comprise” = “contain,” you can see that the whole contains the parts, and not the other way around.

You can also see immediately that “is comprised of”—even though it may be very popular usage—is ungrammatical. (One thing is not contained of other things.)

THE EDIT:


The obvious fix, when it’s available:

     “Often a change comprises multiple components.”

(I would also revise that to read “A change often comprises multiple components.”)

Or “A change is often made up of multiple components.” Or “Multiple components often characterize a change.” And so on.

P.S. This actual example is a “twofer” (for nonnative-English speakers/writers reading this, twofer is a humorous word meaning “two for the price of one”), because it also contains (yes, it comprises!) another of our ten easy fixes: “based on” could use some fixing as well. See easy fix number one.

 

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Better Writing—Instantly

  1. TEN EASY FIXES


  2.   1. based on

  3.   2. dangling modifier

  4.   3. different

  5.   4. due to

  6.   5. is comprised of

  7.   coming soon:

  8.   6. not only but also

  9.   7. provide

  10.   8. robust (and other buzzwords)

  11.   9. singular-they

  12. 10. the following