Comprise

There are two things to note on the use of the verb comprise. First, it should be used in the sense of the whole comprises the parts, not the other way round.

(1) The family comprises six people.
(2) ?Six people comprise the family.

(The ? indicates oddity.)

The family (the whole) comes first, followed by comprises, and then six people (the parts).

The second concerns the use of comprise with of. It seems to be quite common, even among competent users of English:

AsiaOne - 9 August 2012

I would flag it as a mistake and use comprised without of:

(3) It comprised two members from other divisions and Miss Chang was roped in because the services they were going to hire were for her department.

(Just spotted another mistake in the original sentence. It should have been were and not was: "...because the services they were going to hire WERE for her department.") .

Plural noun after "one of"

AsiaOne - 9 August 2012

Since the expression one of entails one of many, the correct form is the plural operators.

The word not is missing from the second highlighted phrase. The phrase should have read "has also not been able to make" or "has also been unable to make".

Everyday is not every day

When do we use every and day as one word everyday, and as two words every day?

The two are not interchangeable.

The single-word everyday is an adjective meaning ordinary, usual, or happening daily. It is usually used before a noun, as the following examples illustrate:

(1) The manual is written in simple everyday language.
(2) Long traffic jams are an everyday occurrence on this road.

A common mistake is to use everyday sentence-initially or sentence-finally, turning it into an adverb that it is not:

(3) *He jogs everyday.
(4) *Everyday, she waters the plants

In both (3) and (4), the correct adverbial is the two-word every day:

(4) He jogs every day.
(5) Every day, she waters the plants.

Because every day means each day, one simple test is to substitute each day for every day. If the resultant sentence sounds right, use every and day as two words.

None is or none are?

Is none followed by is or are?

The answer depends on whether none refers to a count or mass noun. With the latter, none always takes a singular verb:

(1) None of the information is leaked.

When none refers to countable nouns, disagreement arises. Some grammarians prefer the singular verb, some argue for the plural verb while others contend that both are acceptable.

Always singular	None of the oranges is sweet.
Always plural	None of the oranges are sweet.
Either one	None of the oranges is sweet. None of the oranges are sweet.

Quirk et al. (214) notes that "With none, the plural verb is more frequently used than the singular, because of notional concord, even without the effect of the proximity principle.":

None (of the books) are being placed on the shelves today.

Does "more frequently used" mean the plural interpretation is "more grammatical"? Well, it's really debatable. In the absence of a definitive answer, the choice of one over the other boils down to individual style and preference.

Call me a purist, but I'm with the camp that favours the singular interpretation, equating none with not one.