Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Job

Close to our home in Hyderabad was a market place, where there was also a place called adda. This is where, each morning, the daily-wage earners waited and looked for jobs. And then they were picked up by the job-givers to be taken away - to serve that day as cleaners or masons or brick layers or painters based on skills they said they possesed.

But here, in this video you will see an entirely different scenerio. A bit scary or a bit comical, depending on who you are.



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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

'Comprises'? Or 'Comprises of'??

I was just involved in an argument on the usage of english on phrases which have the word, 'comprise'.

When we say that something is 'comprised of' we, obviously mean that it includes the items being refererred to. For example, the building is comprised of a bathroom, two bedroms, a kitchen and a living room.

But my friend was saying that it was ok to say : the building comprises of a bathroom, two bedroms, a kitchen and a living room.

And I was saying that he was wrong. I said that it should actually be : the building comprises a bathroom, two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room.

After much debate and verification with experts I have decided to stay my ground.

So, here's what I think:

(1) If the sentence is "The building ............ a bathroom, two bedroms, a kitchen and a living room."
or
(2) If the sentance is "The new group …….. Joel, John, Jaani, Janardhan and Joyce."

is comprised of......OK
is composed of ....Ok
comprises .........OK
consists of ......OK
contains ......OK
includes ....OK

comprises of..............Pleugghhhh!!

Hee hee....I picked that last one after some investigation on internet from here.

Anyone still thinks that I am wrong??? Comments?

Oh, btw, you can also check these..

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comprise

http://www.bartleby.com/64/C003/070.html
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