Types of Paragraphs (3) Comparison/Contrast Paragraphs (CCP) 1.

. Intro & definitions: another way to develop a para is to use comparison or contrast, or both COMPARISON: to identify similarities between two persons, places, things, or ideas CONTRAST: to identify differences between two persons, places, things, or ideas 2. Organization COMPARISON CONNECTORS Long words X; likewise, y X; similarly, y X; in like manner, y X; in the same way, y CONTRAST CONNECTORS Short words X, but y X, yet y Long words X; however, y X; on the contrary, y X; on the other hand, y X; nevertheless, y X; nonetheless, y Subordinating words X although y X even though y

X=one idea; Y=another idea

(X. (X. (X. (X. Likewise, y) Similarly, y) In like manner, y) In the same way, y)

(X. But y) (X. Yet y) (X. However, y) (X. On the contrary, y) (X. On the other hand, y) (X. Nevertheless, y) (X. Nonetheless, y) (Although y, x) (Even though y, x)

Exercise 1. Using the keys below, construct sentences using comparison or contrast connectors: COMPARISON CONTRAST X= he loves to work in his garden, X= John loves to travel planting vegetables and flowers Y= his sister Susana, hates it Y= he enjoys the benefits of his garden: fresh vegetables to eat and fresh flowers for decoration Exercise 2. Use contrast connectors to complete the paragraph below: There are may differences between my grandmother and me. I think the first and greatest difference is in our age. She is 70 years old, ____________________ I am only 25. Second, my grandmother has blue eyes; my eyes, _________________ , are brown. In addition, my grandmother is very fat. In fact, she weighs about 200 pounds. _________________ , I weigh only 120 pounds. We also have different personalities. _____________ my grandmother is always happy, I am often angry. She smiles all the time, even at people on the street. ______________ her, I smile only when I feel happy. Finally, my grandmother talks so much that her sons say, Dont talk all the time because it is very boring, and she answers, Its good for you to hear me. ___________, I dont like to talk much. I prefer to think. 1

_________________ my grandmother and I are very different, I am fortunate because we are very good friends. Exercise 3. Read the paragraph below. Underline the comparison and contrast connectors. Then do the exercise that follows: Americans are more frugal than I thought. Before I came to the U.S., I thought that Americans used everything and ate as much as they wanted. However, my experiences have shown me that Americans conserve many things. For example, when I first arrived in the U.S, I stayed with an American family. One day, after I had taken a shower, one of the household members told me that I was using too much water; however, I had thought that my shower had been very conservative! Soon after that, I began my studies at the university, and I discovered that American students are especially careful about their money. For example, many of these students have cars; however, they choose to ride bicycles to school in order to save gas money and to conserve energy. In the same way, most university students eat salads or doughnuts and a drink for lunch because they arent expensive. In fact, some students even bring their lunches in paper bags to save some money. For me, the most surprising discovery was how American students entertain. Although in my countries parties have plentiful and beautiful food, the U.S. students enjoy themselves at parties with only some wine and some cheese. From all these examples, I now realize that a neighbours grass isnt always greener. 1. From the information in the topic sentence, what questions did you expect would be answered in the paragraph? Were all your questions answered? 2. What techniques of support are used in the paragraph? 3. What is being contrasted in the paragraph? 4. Underline with two lines the inner paragraph connectors in this paragraph. 5. Draw an outline of this paragraph. COMPARISON/CONTRAST GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES Grammatical parallelism means that parts of a sentence have similar forms: - The doctor recommended aspirin, bed rest, and a liquid diet. - Knowing how to organize material and learning how to present that material are essential for successful academic writing. The rule of parallelism in grammatical structures says that elements in a sentence that are similar in ideas should be similar in structure. Words used with reduced grammatical parallel structures: One idea (A): John enjoys traveling. Second idea (B): His brother, Jack, enjoys traveling. Both A and B: || Like A, B: || Like B, A: Exercise 4. Use comparison words to complete the paragraph below: I am ___________________ my brother in many ways. First, his face is _________________ mine. He has brown skin with wide eyes, and he wears glasses. I also [or too] have brown skin and need glasses. He and I are 2

__________________ __________________ height1.85 meters. His hair is brown in color; similarly, I have brown hair. In addition, he is not fat; we are ______________________ thin. When he is walking, his steps are long ______________ mine, as my relatives tell me all the time. For these reasons, many people, even my close friends, often think that my brother is me when they see him. Assignment. Write a point outline and the rough draft of a comparison/contrast paragraph in which you contrast, from personal experience, your expectations of a situation with the reality of that situation. Choose one of the topics below or a topic of your own. Use a pre-writing strategy to develop detail for your paragraph; modify the topic sentence as necessary: 1. A visit to another city in your country (before and after you visited) 2. A job you have had (before and after you began that job) 3. A foreign country (before and after you arrived) 4. A trip to the dentist (before and after you visited). PARALLELISM OF THOUGHT IN COMPARISON/CONTRAST OUTLINES BASIC POINT PARAGRAPH OUTLINE: ALTERNATIVE COMPARISON/CONTRAST OUTLINE:

Topic sentence: X vs. Y 1. X and Y (point #1) Topic sentence: X vs. Y A. X 1. X > specific detail A. Point #1 B. Y B. Point #2 2. X and Y (point #2) C. Point # 3 A. X 2. Y > specific detail A. Point #1 B. Y B. Point #2 3. X and Y (point #3) C. Point # 3 A. X Concluding sentence. > specific detail B. Y Note: points are in order Concluding sentence. the combination of parallelism in sentence structure and parallelism in thought will result in a clearly organized paragraph. TOPIC SENTENCE: I prefer traveling by ship to traveling by plane. A. The longer time is more restful than an airplane trip. 1. A change of pace from my daily lifeship 2. Hurried just like my daily life plane 3

B. Its an interesting way to spend time. 1. Swimming, playing gamesship 2. Sitting, readingplane C. The variety of people is entertaining. 1. Meeting many different people ship 2. One seatmate, perhapsplane For all these reasons, if I had a choice, I would travel by plane. TOPIC SENTENCE : Studying English with a private tutor is more helpful than studying an English class. A. Studying with a private tutor 1. Student has the opportunity to assimilate info at his/her own pace (rate of learning) 2. Student participates orally during at least half of each class (participation) 3. Student can make and achieve individual goals (goals) B. Studying in an English class: 1. Student must progress at the rate of the class (rate of learning) 2. Student may be able to participate during only a small percentage of the class (participation) 3. Student must accept class goals (goals) After investigating the advantages above, I have decided to stop taking English classes and hire a private tutor. Exercise 5. The same comparison or contrast paragraph topic can often be outlined in both forms. If, for example you were going to write a para about one of the topics below, either of the outlines above would be suitable. Choose one of the topics below and complete both the basic outline and the alternative outline, using the same topic: Topic: Choosing between 1. two new cars (X or Y) || 2. two new watches (X or Y) || 3. two cameras (X or Y). Assignment. Following is a table with basic info about two cities (City X and City Y). look at the data carefully. Then write a para (to a friend) describing which you prefer; use the following info for facts and examples:

Population Location Average daytime temperature Major industries and

City X 15.000 Northwest U.S. Winter: 43F Summer: 78F John Deere Farm

City Y 225.000 Southwest U.S. Winter: 62F Summer: 91F Monsanto Chemical 4

businesses

Pickle factory

Colleges and universities Intensive language programs

Vocational-technical school Community college Small program at the community college: 50 students

Company IBM Computers Chevrolet industrial plant Kodak State University Two private colleges Large program at the university: 300 students

Exercise 6. Write a basic outline or an alternative point outline and a comparison/contrast outline on one of the following topics: 1. Two ways of dealing with homesickness (Which is more successful? Why?) 2. Two holidays (Which is your favourite? Why?) 3. Two restaurants you have eaten at (which was more enjoyable? Why?) IMPORTANT: use pre-writing strategies to develop the topic and revision strategies to strengthen the rough draft of your paragraph. Then write the final draft of your paragraph. Use present tense and comparison/contrast connectors. Make your outline parallel in structure and in thought. Dont forget that comparison/contrast paras usually contain both the similarities and the differences of their topics; the emphasis, however, is usually on one or the other. ORGANIZATION OF COMPARISON/CONTRAST PARAGRAPHS Types: - chronologically (according to time) - from most important to least important point - from least important to most important point Exercise 7. 1. What is the most important contrast point in this paragraph? The least important? Does that decision depend on the audience? That is, what is the most important point from the managements point of view? From the employees point of view? 2. What additional info would you ask the author of this paragraph? 3. Circle all the connectors and introductory phrases in the paragraph. Robots vs. humans In industry, especially on assembly lines, robots are better workers than human beings. Unlike humans, robots work in boring or dirty or unpleasant jobs without complaint or absence; they will drill holes or make sheet metal parts for weeks and years at a time. Robots also work in jobs too dangerous over a long period of time for humans, jobs which cause disease, or jobs in which frequent accidents occur with fumes or radiation. In addition, robots on the assembly line are most cost effective than humans; they can work 24 hours a day, and their up time (that is, 5

the time that they are operable) is nearly 95%, as opposed to 75%for the average human worker. Furthermore, they are accurate; human error is responsible for a 10% rejection rate, but robots; rejection rate is zero. For all these reasons, industries are moving from human to robot employees. Exercise 8. Write a comparison/contrast paragraph that discusses some differences (or similarities) between your native language and English. Your audience is a native speaker of English who wants to know more about your language. Generate ideas for the paragraph by using one or more pre-writing strategies that you have studied. Construct a point outline (either a basic outline or an alternative outline form); make the outline parallel in structure and thought. Modify the topic sentence if necessary. Write the rough draft of the paragraph. Use the revision guidelines before you write the final draft of your paragraph. Exercise 9. Look at the following two charts. Each chart shows the number of students from different countries in an intensive language program. Write a comparison/contrast paragraph that shows the similarities and the differences in enrollment. Choose either the basic outline or the alternative outline to organize the information; then formulate an appropriate topic sentence. Your audience for this paragraph is the academic administrator of an intensive language program; therefore, your paragraph should be formal in language and in the presentation of written material.

Intensive Language Program A

Saudi Arabia Venezuela Malaysia Mexico

Exercise 10. Following are two comparison/contrast paragraphs that have too many independent clauses joined together. Break up the sentences to make the paragraphs less confusing to the reader. Use appropriate connectors, and eliminate unnecessary words:

1. Islamic people made pilgrimages to Mecca a long time ago. In that ancient time, the trip was very hard, people of the 0 5 10 15 20 25 Islamic religion were required to make 30 35 40 one trip to the Holy City. They did this at least once during their lives, but the trip was a struggle, transportation was primitive. People traveled on camels, they came on foot, they suffered the long distances, they suffered the heat, they suffered from limited food supplies. Nowadays, however, the pilgrimage to Mecca is much Intensive Language Program B easier. Most Muslims are able to make the trip, many come to Japan

Saudi Arabia Venezuela Malaysia

Mecca by car, others come by bus, others come by plane. They arrive relaxed, they are ready to spend their time following the practices of the Prophet Mohammed.

2. In my country, Nepal, we prefer dogs rather than cats. Cats are not easily available in Nepal, they have to be bought, they are Japan expensive. However, dogs are easily available, we dont have to pay for dogs, they are often 0 5 10 15 20 25 given as gifts by neighbours. Superstitions play 30 35 40 a part in our distaste towards pets. Cats are said to be a sign of bad omen, cats bring bad luck , for example, if any person sees a cat at the time he is leaving the house, he will stay home. But the case is very different for dogs. We train dogs for various purposes, we train them to watch our property, they can also be trained to hunt. Finally, we believe that cats are not friendly; therefore, they will not make good pets. Dogs, however, are loyal and friendly; therefore, they will make excellent pets. Mexico