Writing Tip 153: “Compose” vs. “Comprise”
100 writing tips compose my book, Alright? Not All Right. My book comprises 100 writing tips. There’s a subtle difference between these words that is essential in mastering their usage. Are you getting them right?
- Ignoring other meanings for a moment, let’s focus on when “compose” means “to come together to form something.” Thus, little pieces come together to make something big. Words compose a page; planets compose the solar system; trees compose a forest.
- To comprise means “to contain,” so to use it properly, something big must contain smaller parts. The library comprises books; molecules comprise atoms; the “dead poets society” did not comprise dead poets (or maybe it did have one. Oh, I just got sad… good movie).