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Day’?s Verse:
Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.
1 John 5:4-5
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Normally I remember to pack my entire set of clothes every morning. I tote a shirt, pants, socks, and all necessary undergarments with me on my commute since my bike outfit does not duplicate any of those items. Even if it did, I wouldn’t want to wear sweaty bike clothes all day. Generally I check carefully before leaving the house, so as not to find myself missing some crucial bit of clothing.
Despite my diligence, I forgot a crucial bit of clothing yesterday. Nobody at work could tell, but I spent a remarkably uncomfortable but highly memorable day. I doubt I will forget that clothing item again.
Speaking of uncomfortable experiences, I rode in pouring down rain the other day and water leaked into my bag. Alas, it leaked right onto the crotch of my jeans, forming a dinner-plate-sized wet spot that looked less like rain damage and more like loss of bladder control. Plus I spent almost the whole day damp. Not cool.
And lastly, I took a grueling grammar exam here at work. It involved 88 questions, way too many of them asking about sentence diagramming, which it turns out I’m awful at. To pass, I could only miss eight of the 88 questions. My boss graded it and came by yesterday to comment blithely, “Oh, by the way, I glanced over your exam and you missed 21. ’Bye!” Then she walked away, leaving me muttering mutinously under my breath. Who the heck cares whether which in a particular situation is a relative pronoun introducing relative clause or a preposition introducing prepositional phrase? Honestly. Sheesh.
I did at least learn that comprise should never be used in the phrase was comprised of, because comprise is a verb all by itself. A thing can comprise X, Y, and Z, or be composed of X, Y, and Z, but the thing cannot be comprised of X, Y, and Z.
Also it turns out you should almost never use prior to, but instead say before.
And as should only appear in sentences like as soon as I eat dinner…, but never in sentences like As she hated sunlight, she refused the free Caribbean cruise. In that use, since or because should replace as.
See? I learned lots! But not enough, apparently. Poo.
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You could discretely keep a spare of that essential item of clothing in your cubicle just in case.
Those sound like pretty left-brained grammar rules. Comprised of is just an awkward construction to begin with, but the others are things that could appear in plenty of looser styles of prose.
Deborah, the next day I brought in a full change of clothes and stashed it in one of the drawers at work. I won’t be caught out again!
Colleen, your lack of workplace experience is showing here. Despite its hideous sound and awkward construction, “is comprised of” crops up almost incessantly in corporate writing, presumably favored by writers because it sounds more impressive than simpler ways of communicating. “Prior to” and “utilize” receive the same high usage rate, solely, I think, because they sound more official than “before” and “use.” (Incidentally, the grammar book said to use the latter two words for simplicity’s sake.)