comprise

comprise — verb

1. when something comprises several items, members, or ingredients, those are the p

1.動詞及物B2
釋義

when something comprises several items, members, or ingredients, those are the pieces it is built from or made of — for instance, a committee that comprises five members is formed by those five people together.

例句

The book comprises twelve chapters, each focusing on a different historical period.

comprise + number of parts

The research committee comprised five professors from three different universities.

同義詞
  • consist of

    most common everyday alternative; requires the preposition 'of'

  • be composed of

    similar formality to 'comprise'; often interchangeable

  • contain

    broader meaning — can include non-essential items; less precise

  • include

    suggests a partial rather than complete list of parts

反義詞
  • exclude

    opposite meaning — to leave out rather than include

文法句型

comprise + noun phrase

用法筆記

Not used in progressive forms (❌ 'is comprising'). This is the more common sense — it describes the whole containing the parts. The structure is 'whole comprises parts' with no preposition.

常見錯誤

❌The book is comprising twelve chapters.
✅The book comprises twelve chapters.
💡'comprise' is a stative verb and never takes a progressive form.
❌The team comprises of five members.
✅The team comprises five members.
💡'comprise' takes a direct object without 'of'. The phrase 'consist of' requires 'of', but 'comprise' does not.

2. when several separate people, things, or groups comprise a larger thing, they ar

2.動詞及物C1
釋義

when several separate people, things, or groups comprise a larger thing, they are the pieces that together create it — for instance, twelve players comprise a football team, meaning each player is one of the parts that makes the team whole.

例句

Twelve players comprise a standard volleyball team, with six on each side of the court.

parts as subject, whole as object

Caio noted that three main ingredients comprise the traditional sauce his grandmother makes.

同義詞
  • constitute

    same formality; more common in formal and legal writing

  • make up

    informal everyday alternative; very common in speech

  • form

    neutral register; less formal than 'comprise' but more common than 'constitute'

文法句型

plural noun phrase + comprise + singular noun phrase

用法筆記

Less common than sense 1 (CONSIST OF). The subject must be plural or a collective noun referring to multiple parts. The object is the single whole those parts form. Some style guides prefer 'constitute' or 'make up' in this sense to avoid confusion.

常見錯誤

❌The team comprises twelve players' (when the intended meaning is 'the parts form the team', not 'the team contains the parts').
✅Twelve players comprise the team.
💡With sense 2, the parts must be the grammatical subject. If you mean the whole contains the parts, use sense 1 instead.
❌Twelve players are comprising the team.
✅Twelve players comprise the team.
💡Like sense 1, this sense never takes a progressive form.