comprise /kəmˈpraiz/

You say that something comprises particular things when you are mentioning all its parts.

• The village's facilities comprised one public toilet and two telephones.

You can also say that something is composed of or consists of particular things. There is no difference in meaning.

• The body is composed of many kinds of cells, such as muscle, bone, nerve, and fat.
• The committee consists of scientists and engineers.

Don't use a passive form [被动形式] of consist of. Don't say, for example, 'The committee is consisted of scientists and engineers'.

Constitute works in the opposite way to the verbs just mentioned. If a number of things or people constitute something, they are the parts or members that form it.

• Volunteers constitute more than 95% of The Center's work force.

Make up can be used in either an active or passive form. In its active form, it has the same meaning as constitute.

• Women made up two-fifths of the audience.

In its passive form, it is followed by of and has the same meaning as be composed of.

• All substances are made up of molecules.
• Nearly half the Congress is made up of lawyers.

Don't use a progressive form [进行时] of any of these verbs. Don't say, for example, 'The committee is consisting of scientists and engineers'.

The traditional rule states that the whole comprises the parts and the parts compose the whole. In strict usage:

• The Union comprises 50 states.
• Fifty states compose (or make up) the Union.

Even though many writers maintain this distinction, however, comprise is often used in place of compose, especially in the passive:

• The Union is comprised of 50 states.

Our surveys show that opposition to this usage has abated [减少] but has not disappeared. In the 1960s, 53 percent of the Usage Panel found this usage unacceptable; by 1996, the proportion objecting had declined to 35 percent; and by 2011, it had fallen a bit more, to 32 percent. The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

六级/考研单词: comprise, lavatory, compose, differentiate, passive, constitute, verb, volunteer, molecule, congress, strict, usage, seldom, prominent, scholar, journal, diplomat, gauge, construct