September 18, 1998

comprise

I have long held that careful writers use "comprise" and "compose" as follows: "The faculty comprises John, Mary, and Bill. The faculty is composed of John, Mary, and Bill." It seems to me that "comprise" is used increasingly as a replacement for "compose," as in "the faculty is comprised of John, Mary, and Bill." Am I a fuddy-duddy for wanting to preserve this distinction? Is there historical precident for my preference?

Ah, that "careful writer" again.

The usage question that surrounds the proper use of comprise has been pervasive throughout the century; almost every usage guide has devoted space to it. (Compose itself is not at issue here; the problem is the use of comprise in the sense 'compose'.)

The use of comprise that everyone regards as correct is in the sense 'to include; contain; be made up of'. Remember the sentence "the whole comprises the parts." Thus, correct sentences are your "The faculty comprises John, Mary, and Bill," or "A full deck comprises 52 cards."

The use of comprise that is often regarded as erroneous is the sense 'to compose; constitute', either in the active or the passive. Thus, sentences regarded as incorrect are your (passive) "The faculty is comprised of John, Mary, and Bill," or (active) "Put together the slaughterhouses, the steel mills, the freight yards...that comprised the city" (Saul Bellow). The active use is less commonly objected to, probably because it's harder to spot.

It is perhaps irrelevant to comment on the history of this latter, criticized, usage. The active construction has been in use since the eighteenth century, the passive since the nineteenth. The usage seems to have been chiefly a technical use until the early twentieth century, after which point it became increasingly common in nontechnical writing. It is likely not a coincidence that objections to it also first appear in the early twentieth century.

The 'compose; constitute' sense has been part of the language for two hundred years, and is in very common usage in a wide variety of respectable sources. There is no real possibility of confusion--no one could plausibly claim that the sentence "The faculty is comprised of John, Mary, and Bill" is unclear. The original sense is also still in common use; it is not getting squeezed out. Some would consider both senses standard. Many people will still condemn the 'compose; constitute' sense, though, so if you have the choice in your own writing, it is probably best to avoid it, and substitute compose, constitute, or make up, as you prefer.