Each year brings new problems of Form and Content, new foes to tug with: at Twenty I tried to
vex my elders, past Sixty it's the young whom I hope to bother.
~W. H. Auden
The whole comprises the parts.
The parts do not comprise the whole, nor is the whole comprised of the parts.
► The following uses “comprise” correctly: “The neighborhood comprises red brick bungalows.”
►“The neighborhood is comprised of red brick bungalows” is, however, ungrammatical.
► The following, from Wikipedia, uses “comprise” incorrectly:
“The Bay Area comprises of many cities, towns, military bases, airports...over nine counties....”
Deleting “of” from the sentence above makes that sentence grammatical, as follows:
“The Bay Area comprises many cities, towns....”
Writers are often confused about how to use “comprise,” and they reverse its meaning, as described below by Richard Lederer.
“‘Comprises’ is equivalent to ‘includes.’
The whole comprises the parts. You can’t say ‘is comprised of’, just like you can’t say ‘is included of.’ ‘Is comprised of’ may one day be accepted, but isn’t yet.”
Richard Lederer, linguist and creator of The Way With Words radio show on NPR
Copyright © 2007 Donna K. Reeder