| 词组 | comprise |
| 释义 | comprise Between thirty and forty commentators are represented in our files as subscribing to this dictum (from Copperud 1970): "The whole comprises the parts; thus is comprised of 'is wrong." The subject was a particular favorite of Theodore Bernstein; he put it in his 1958, 1965, and 1977 books and treated it many times in Winners & Sinners. Our commentators are both British and American, and as far as we can discover, all are citizens of the 20th century. We have not yet discovered any 19th-century comment. The earliest we have found is in an American printers' trade journal, the Inland Printer, March 1903. Our earliest British source is Fowler 1907. Copperud's brief summary is a bit too succinct. There are actually two constructions involved in the disputed usage: the passive one Copperud mentions and an active one that is most easily spotted when a plural noun is the subject of comprise: • The words they found comprise, if not the language of enormity, a language for enormity —David Reid, in Michaels & Ricks 1980 The Inland Printer writer found two similar uses: "the companies that comprise the regiment" and "the houses that comprise the row," which, he avers, "are actual quotations from print." The active construction is the older of the two. The OED records it in the late 18th century, but the editors did not have much evidence and labeled the use rare. The OED Supplement has collected many later examples. The most noteworthy characteristic of the construction is that from the beginning into the early 20th century, it seems to have been rather more frequent in technical and scientific writing than in belles lettres. It seems to have gained increasing use, and especially nontechnical use, in the 20th century: • It was these last words that proved to Joseph that the ringlets and bracelets did not comprise the whole of this young man's soul —George Moore, The Brook Kerith, 1916 • ... each number... carries our names up in the corner as comprising the editorial staff —Alexander Woollcott, letter, Spring 1918 • ... the ceremonies which comprise the abdication — Sir James G. Frazer, Aftermath, 1937 • ... they comprise the only repertory that is unique to it —Virgil Thomson, The Musical Scene, 1947 • The basic assumptions and techniques which comprise the scientific way of interpreting reality —Leslie A. White, The Science of Culture, 1949 • Adjacent rock formations determine the sand and pebbles comprising a beach —Joyce Allan, Australian Shells, 1950 • The receipts ... comprised the fifth-largest gate in boxing history —John Lardner, New Yorker, 17 Mar. 1951 • ... individuals who comprised the planting artis-tocracy —Oscar Handlin, The American People in the Twentieth Century, 1954 • The buildings that comprise the Nunnery quadrangle —Katharine Kuh, Saturday Rev., 28 June 1969 • ... the $750 billion of tax cuts through 1986 that comprise the heart of the Reagan program —Kenneth H. Bacon, Wall Street Jour., 31 Aug. 1981 • ... the sixty or so scowling citizens who comprised the forward section of the line —T. Coraghessan Boyle, Atlantic, January 1982 • ... the moralistic qualities that comprised Carter's systematic weakness in foreign policy —Joseph Kraft, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sept. 1984 • Seven boys comprised the choir —Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days, 1985 This sense—"compose, constitute"—can be found from time to time with a singular subject: • Miss Sally Fagg has a pretty figure, & that comprises all the good looks of the family —Jane Austen, letter, 14 Oct. 1813 • For too long there has existed a misconception as to what comprises a literary generation —William Sty-ron, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 6 May 1973 • Weaver, whose .597 percentage over the last 14 years comprises baseball's third-best all-time —Ron Powers, Inside Sports, August 1982 The active construction, we can see, is flourishing and can be found in quite a wide range of writing. The passive construction is the one that caught the eye of the Fowler brothers in 1907. They reproduced this example: • A few companies, comprised mainly of militiamen — Times The passive construction is not as old as the active; the OED Supplement dates it from 1874. H. W. Fowler intended to give it extended treatment in his 1926 book, but the paragraph was accidentally omitted, and he had to content himself with publishing it five years later in S.P.E. (Society for Pure English) Tract 36. The passive construction too appears to be in a flourishing condition today, as does the detached past participle: • ... it was universally believed that mankind was comprised of a single species —Ashley Montagu, Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race, 2d ed., 1945 • ... his vision of environment as comprised of chemic, economic, and natural force —Richard Poirier, A World Elsewhere, 1966 • Like any other system comprised of complex feedback cycles —Barry Commoner, Columbia Forum, Spring 1968 • ... a great many of the present-day centers are comprised of militant groups —Irving Louis Horowitz, Center Mag, May 1969 • Social situations... are comprised of complex interrelated variables —V. L. Allen, Social Analysis, 1975 • Comprised of a Chinese managing director, British manager, French concierge, German food and beverage director... this talented multi-lingual team ... —Linda Gwinn, Town & Country, June 1980 • The audience, comprised mainly of undergraduates in sneakers and denim —William Kucewicz, Wall Street Jour., 19 Jan 1981 • ... a series of 30 gates comprised of red and green poles —Patrick Strickler, Sports Illustrated, 10 Dec. 1984 But do not think that the vigorous condition of the disputed constructions has tended to crowd the older senses out of use. Not at all. Comprise seems to have increased in overall use enough so that all the senses current within the last 200 years are still in good health. Here is a small sample of the two most common older senses. You should notice that they come from many of the same sources as the disputed constructions: • Three months comprised thirteen weeks —Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814 • ... civilization as Lenin used the term would then certainly have comprised the changes that are now associated in our minds with "developed" rather than "developing" states —Times Literary Supp., 5 Mar. 1970 • ... a series ... that eventually comprised more than 200 titles —Judith Appelbaum, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 2 Jan. 1983 • Originally the Hogs comprised only the Skins' offensive linemen —Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated, 6 June 1983 • ... a Senate comprising free-lance egos — Wall Street Jour., 8 Nov. 1984 • The course of studies comprised Classics, Theology, and Commercial —Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days, 1985 Conclusion: the aspersed active construction of comprise has been in use for nearly two centuries; the passive construction for more than a century. It is a little hard to understand why these constructions that are so obviously established are still the source of so much discontent. (They have been defined in Merriam-Webster dictionaries since 1934.) Perhaps the critics are worried about the older senses: • Unlike all but a few modern writers, Mrs. Spark uses the verb "comprise" correctly —John Updike, New Yorker, 23 July 1984 But our evidence shows no diminution of vitality in the older senses—"include" and "be made up of." Even sportswriters use them. If the criticism has had any noticeable effect, it may be that it causes some writers to avoid the passive construction, which is slightly less well attested in our files than we might have expected. The active construction is the harder one to detect and so has not received as much antagonistic notice. Our advice to you is to realize that the disputed sense is established and standard, but nevertheless liable to criticism. If such criticism concerns you, you can probably avoid comprise by using compose, constitute, or make up, whichever fits your sentence best. |
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