What’s the Difference?
Comprise is often misused for compose.
Comprise means “to be made up of.”
Examples:
The plays comprises three acts.
The book comprises 250 pages.
Women comprise 44% of hospital medical staff.
Compose means “to form by putting together or to make up.”
Examples:
The mansion is composed of many rooms.
She tried to compose her thoughts.
Please compose yourself.
Excellent and interesting! Thank you!
Interesting that one or two letters could change a word into another completely different word.
The sentence: “The mansion is composed of many rooms,” evokes thought. I presume that in using “comprised” it would be written: “The mansion comprises many rooms.” But as I consider it further, I might reach the conclusion that using “composed” as it is above is not correct. The mansion didn’t perform the composing. Maybe it should be: “The mansion is comprised of many rooms,” because the sentence describes what it is made up of.
David – Thanks for pointing out how confusing this is.
From Scribbr: The passive phrasing is composed of is correct and means the same thing as “comprises” on its own. The phrase “is comprised of” is a common mistake.
Examples: Comprise in a sentence
The university comprises a number of different campuses.
Examples: Compose in a sentence
The university is composed of a number of different campuses.
Thank you David AND Nancy for the further explanation . Just another reason why the English language is so difficult to master.