Comprise vs Represent - What's the difference?
comprise | represent |
To be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts).
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However, the passive voice of comprise must be employed carefully to make sense. Phrases such as "animals and cages are comprised by zoos" or "pitchers, catchers, and fielders are comprised by baseball teams" highlight the difficulty.
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=David Ornstein, work=BBC Sport
, title= To include, contain or embrace.
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To compose, to constitute. See usage note below.
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*1657 , (Isaac Barrow), (translation), Prop. XXX
*:"Seeing then the angles comprised of equal right lines are equal, we have found the angle FDE equal to the angle ABC."
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*:Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local colour) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
(lb) To include, contain, or be made up of ("open-ended", doesn't limit to the items listed; cf. compose , which is "closed" and limits to the items listed)
To present again or anew; to present by means of something standing in the place of; to exhibit the counterpart or image of; to typify.
To portray by pictorial or plastic art; to delineate; as, to represent a landscape in a picture, a horse in bronze, and the like.
To portray by mimicry or action of any kind; to act the part or character of; to personate; as, to represent Hamlet.
To stand in the place of; to supply the place, perform the duties, exercise the rights, or receive the share, of; to speak and act with authority in behalf of; to act the part of (another); as, an heir represents his ancestor; an attorney represents his client in court; a member of Congress represents his district in Congress.
To exhibit to another mind in language; to show; to give one's own impressions and judgement of; to bring before the mind; to set forth; sometimes, to give an account of; to describe.
To serve as a sign or symbol of; as, mathematical symbols represent quantities or relations; words represent ideas or things.
To bring a sensation of into the mind or sensorium; to cause to be known, felt, or apprehended; to present.
To form or image again in consciousness, as an object of cognition or apprehension (something presentative, which was originally apprehended by direct presentation).
(Webster 1913)
As verbs the difference between comprise and represent
is that comprise is to be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts) while represent is to present again or anew; to present by means of something standing in the place of; to exhibit the counterpart or image of; to typify.comprise
English
Verb
(compris)However, the passive voice of comprise must be employed carefully to make sense. Phrases such as "animals and cages are comprised by zoos" or "pitchers, catchers, and fielders are comprised by baseball teams" highlight the difficulty.
Arsenal 1-0 Everton, passage=Arsenal were playing without a recognised full-back - their defence comprising four centre-halves - and the lack of width was hindering their progress.}}
Usage notes
* Traditionally, a team comprised its members, whereas the members composed'' the team. (The ''Associated Press Stylebook'' advises journalists to maintain this distinction.) The sense "compose, constitute" — as in "the members comprise the team" — is sometimes considered incorrect. According to '' also state that it is an increasingly frequent and accepted usage. * The use of "of" with the verb in the active (rather than passive) tense is always incorrect, hence *"the UK comprises of four countries" and *"four countries comprise of the UK" are incorrect.External links
* * English words affected by confusion English words affected by prescriptivism ----represent
English
(Webster 1913)Alternative forms
* (archaic)Verb
(en verb)- He represented that he was investigating for the police department.
