Paragraph Structure

Comparing and ContrastingDebbie Lahav

Business EnglishRuppin Academic Center

Making Comparisons and Contrasts A comparison shows how people or things are

similar. A contrast shows how they are different. In both, you must identify topics (e.g. hometown and college town) and their points of comparison (e.g., size, location) that can be compared or contrasted.

B

A

BA

Organization 1: Whole to Whole

Topic sentence: introduction of two topics to be compared

Body: examination of topics – first one and then the otherTopic 1:

Point APoint BPoint C

Topic 2Point APoint BPoint C

Conclusion: evaluation of topics compared

Organization 2: (Point to Point)

Topic sentence: introduction of two topics to be compared

Body: examination of topics – first one and then the other Point A

Topic 1 Topic 2

Point B Topic 1 Topic 2

Point C Topic 1 Topic 2

Conclusion: evaluation of topics compared

Class Task: Read the paragraph. How is the information

organized – by topics or by points?

Find the similarities and differences by using Venn diagrams.

Note: For each topic, you will need a Venn diagram.

Task 1 My hometown and my college town have several things in

common. First, my hometown, Lockport, is a small town. It has a population of only about 10,000 people. Located in a rural area, Lockport is surrounded by many acres of farmland which are devoted mainly to growing corn and soybeans. Lockport also contains a college campus, Neutron College, which is famous for its Agricultural Economics program as well as for its annual Corn-Watching Festival. As for my college town, Batavia, it too is small, having a population of about 11,000 local residents, which swells to 15,000 people when students from the nearby college are attending classes. Like Lockport, Batavia lies in the center of farmland which is used to raise hogs and cattle. Finally, Batavia is similar to Lockport in that it also boasts a beautiful college campus, called Quark College. This college is well known for its Agricultural Engineering department and also for its yearly Hog-Calling Contest.

Homework Task

Organize your information before writing in a Venn diagram.Type your paragraph in Word. When you finish, check your work.Then copy and paste it into the text box on the task. Remember to click the icon changing the paragraph direction to left to right.

You work for the Israeli subsidiary of COM Software, a New York based company that has offices all over the world. The Israeli offices are located in. For the international company newsletter, you have been asked to compare your city (Herzlia Petuach) with New York. Write one paragraph showing some of the similarities and differences.