Q. 2017/11/28

老師好，想跟老師討論一下今天寫作課的問題：水是由氫氣、氧氣組成。我後來在火車上想了一下，還是覺得comprise可以用被動耶@@ 以下是我找的資料：

牛津字典寫：

The committee is comprised of representatives from both the public and private sectors.

朗文字典也說：

On the other hand, the brain is comprised of ten billion or so neurons.

所以是不是以comprise這個字來說的話，【大單位由小單位組成】可以用主動、被動都可以呢？

抑或是【被動的用法】其實是大家誤用而【積非成是】了呢？  想聽老師的見解謝謝老師^ ^

A.

關於 comprise 的用法，如果從常見到不常見的順序排列，大致上是：

1. [整體 + comprise + 組件]：The country comprises twenty states.

2. [整體 + be comprised of + 組件]：The country is comprised of twenty states.

3. [組件+ comprise + 整體]：Twenty states comprise the country.

！錯誤用法 [整體 + comprise of + 組件]：The country comprises of twenty states. (X)

字典那兩句都是用法 2，當然沒問題。至於字彙的那道練習題「Water ___ hydrogen and oxygen.」也如此：

Water is comprised of hydrogen and oxygen.

Water comprises hydrogen and oxygen.

有些動詞，主動或被動的型態，意義沒有太大差別，因為被動分詞被當作形容詞看待囉：

I won’t finish the report for another hour.

I won’t be finished with the report for another hour.

She is facing a difficult decision.

She is faced with a difficult decision.

They oppose the cloning of human cells.

They are opposed to the cloning of human cells.