atw: Re: Usage survey: the expression "consists of"
- From: Martin Puchert <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:29:57 +1100
Hi Geoffrey
This issue comes up regularly in patent drafting. I realise patents are a
specialised context, but I thought you might be interested anyway. In that
context, "consisting of A and B" means only A and B and nothing else. On the
other hand, "comprising A and B" is used in patents to mean "including, but
not limited to, A and B".
Cheers, Martin
Martin Puchert
From: Geoffrey Marnell <geoffrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Organization: Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
Reply-To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:17:17 +1100
To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: atw: Usage survey: the expression "consists of"
Hi austechies
Can I get your feedback on how you interpret the expression ³consists of² or
³consisted of². In the following example:
³Drug therapy consisted of 0.25 mg of digoxin per day and 40 mg of
propranolol twice a day.²
do you read that as saying that the entire therapy included just digoxin and
propranolol and nothing else? Or do you read it as saying that the therapy
included digoxin and propranolol and possibly something else?
Don¹t worry about what might or might not be correct (whatever that means).
The issue is how you interpret ³consisted of²: as giving the full set of
items or a sub-set of items.
Cheers
Geoffrey Marnell
Principal Consultant
Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
P: 03 9596 3456
M: 0419 574 668
F: 03 9596 3625
W: www.abelard.com.au <http://www.abelard.com.au/>
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