by Kathy Davie
Image courtesy of Merapi Indah
Admittedly, comprise is not used often. However, I do frequently find authors using compose when comprise would be the appropriate choice.
It’s an evolving list, these Word Confusions, and sometimes I run across an example that helps explain better. If you’d like to track it, “Compose versus Comprise” can also be found on my website. Consider sharing this Word Confusion with friends by tweeting it
| Compose | Comprise | |
|---|---|---|
| Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com | ||
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Verb | Verb | |
| Write or create
Made up of or constitute (of elements) Calm or settle yourself, your features, your thoughts Prepare a text for printing Setting up the letters and characters to print something [archaic] Settle a dispute |
Consist of
Be made up of Constitute |
|
| Examples: | ||
| Beethoven composed music.
Water is composed of two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Compose yourself before he sees how angry you are! Technically, you could consider yourself composing when you have the computer send a file to the printer. |
The U.S. comprises 50 states.
Documents are comprised of words, although they are composed by people. Who knew?? |
|
| History of the Word: | ||
| Late Middle English | Late Middle English | |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves?
Kathy Davie is an author, educator, and artist with a BS in Technical Writing & Editing with minors in Digital Media and History from Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado.
She is the author of the arts marketing series, Your Portfolio & You, aimed at helping artists survive (and thrive) at the business of being an artist and include Accounting for the SMALL Businessperson, How Copyright Applies to the Artist, the Buyer, the Employer/e, the Sold Artwork, Dealing with Photographs, Slides, Digital Images, and Surviving the Outdoor Arts Festival.
A huge believer in knowledge being power, Kathy has begun a free set of Author Tools for authors interested in self-editing including an online tutorial in Using Microsoft Word’s Markup Tool, words commonly confused by authors and Punctuation and Formatting Tips.
Contact Kathy for various writing and editing services or explore her artwork.
hi Kathy
i’m pleasantly surprised that one of my visuals is being selected & used.
feel free to use any others visuals that you find useful!
hh
http://merapiindah.wordpress.com
It was so perfect to help explain such a, well, nebulous concept. Thanks very much for creating it! I hope it helps bring traffic to your site.