Grammar
N을/를 포함한 N
Meaning
IntermediateN eul/reul pohamhan N
Names one member of a larger set and leaves the set open: 요금 인상을 포함한 여러 방안 is several options, one of which is a fare rise. 포함하다 is the verb 'to include' and -(으)ㄴ turns it into a modifier, so the whole phrase sits in front of the noun it describes and becomes part of that noun phrase. Korean puts modifiers first, which means the specific item arrives before the category it belongs to — the reverse of the English order — and it is the noun at the end, not the one inside the modifier, that the sentence's verb answers to. News writing reaches for this when it wants to lead with the item readers care about while keeping the group intact: 대표를 포함한 임원 5명, 서울을 포함한 수도권.
Form
The included item takes 을 after a final consonant and 를 after a vowel (요금 인상을, 대표를), then 포함한 follows with a space, then the head noun. 포함한 is 포함하다 in the -(으)ㄴ adnominal form; the present-tense 포함하는 also occurs and reads a shade more descriptive, and the passive 포함된 turns the direction around (포함된 항목 — the items that were included, not the ones doing the including). A count normally rides on the head noun rather than on the item inside: 서울을 포함한 6개 시도. Because the result is one noun phrase, whatever particle the sentence needs goes on the head noun and never inside the modifier — 서울을 포함한 지역이, 지역을, 지역에서.
Examples
요금 인상을 포함한 여러 방안을 검토합니다.
Several options including a fare rise are being reviewed.
Common mistakes & nuance
Two things to get right. The first is which way the inclusion runs: whatever carries 을/를 is inside, and the noun after 포함한 is the container. 서울을 포함한 5개 도시 is five cities, one of them Seoul; reading it as cities that Seoul contains inverts the sentence. The related pair to keep apart is 포함하다 against 포함되다 — N을/를 포함한 N has the head noun doing the including, while N에 포함된 N has it being included. The second is what the phrase declines to say. Naming one member tells you nothing about the others and nothing about how many there are, unless the head noun happens to count them: 서울을 포함한 수도권 지역 leaves which other regions are meant entirely open. That openness is exactly why a headline uses it, and exactly why it is easy to over-read as though the named item were the main part of the set.
Similar grammar
- N 등
Both say the list is not complete, from opposite ends of the noun phrase. N 등 comes after the items and sums them up (서울, 부산 등 큰 도시); N을/를 포함한 N comes before the head noun and singles one item out (서울을 포함한 큰 도시). The emphasis differs with the position: 등 points at the remainder it did not write down, while 포함한 points at the one member it chose to name — which is why a headline that wants a particular city in it takes 포함한, and a list that just needs closing takes 등.
- N 같은 N
The same slot in front of the noun, but a different claim. N 같은 N offers the item as an example of a kind (치킨 같은 음식 — food of that sort), and the sentence stays about the kind. N을/를 포함한 N asserts that the item is actually a member of the set being talked about, and the set is a real, countable one. So 대표 같은 임원 is executives of the chairman's sort, while 대표를 포함한 임원 5명 is five specific people and the chairman is one of them.