Generate the answer for a given question. The question requires common knowledge of English. Make sure that the answer is in detail, long, consistent with the context, and requires general knowledge of English. To be less repetitive, please vary your language for each question. Give a proper explanation to answer, and if necessary, provide the definition of various terms. And conclude your answer if it's long. If you have used other resources (e.g., Merriam Webster's.) to answer the question, include citations in your answer. You don't need to paraphrase the context of your resources, but make sure that your answer is consistent and complete.
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Question: I have found a similar topic addressing the use of 'comprise' but my question is not exactly in line with that one. I did ask this question there to keep the topic related to the use of 'comprise' but it was removed since I did not follow protocol. So my apologies if this seems like a duplicate entry. When does one use 'comprises of' and when 'comprise'? Are they interchangeable? For example: 'My name comprises 5 letters' 'My name comprises of 5 letters' Which is correct? Or are they both acceptable?.

Answer: A quick look in a decent online dictionary is advisable: comprise Usage: The use of of after comprise should be avoided: the library comprises (not comprises of) 500 000 books and manuscripts Collins English Dictionary Complete and Unabridged Collins. I don't think US usage is any different. Another quote, from the internet (repunctuated): Never use 'comprise of' or 'comprises of' - but 'comprised of' is allowed. This is a passive (or arguably adjectival) usage involving comprised which some consider to be ungrammatical.

Question: My wife is always accusing me of casting aspersions and I'd like to do something else with them. Please advise.

Answer: You can also sprinkle them. [aspersion: (n) An attack on somebody's reputation or good name, often in the phrase to cast aspersions upon (Dict.com)] (label) ...a sprinkling of [aspersions] Merriam-Webster: 'sprinkle' def: scatter or pour small drops or particles of a substance over (an object or surface). Maybe a sprinkling of aspersions will make them appear more tiny vs. this casting aspersions upon her. Perhaps a sprinkling of aspersions sounds less inoffensive; somewhat harmless, or innocuous--somehow. Seem like a piddling of aspersions. Maybe because there's less of them. I don't know. Sometimes, if I apply a sprinkling of aspersions on my wife instead of casting, she thinks them funny. Try a sprinkling of aspersions instead. If that doesn't work, you can always go back to casting aspersions upon her, or even try dusting or powdering her with aspersions. See if that works. Good luck!

Question: Does 'egoistic' and 'egotistic' mean the same thing?.

Answer:
No. While similar, they have some important differences. Consider this note on usage from the Oxford Dictionaries: The words egoism and egotism are frequently confused, as though interchangeable, but there are distinctions worth noting. Both words derive from Latin ego ('I'), the first-person singular pronoun. Egotism, the more commonly used term , denotes an excessive sense of self-importance, too-frequent use of the word 'I,' and general arrogance and boastfulness. Egoism, a more subtle term , is perhaps best left to ethicists, for whom it denotes a view or theory of moral behavior in which self-interest is the root of moral conduct. An egoist, then , might devote considerable attention to introspection, but could be modest about it, whereas an egotist would have an exaggerated sense of the importance of his or her self-analysis, and would have to tell everyone