Discuss Differences with Linking Words of Contrast

When you are comparing options, two smartphones, two vacation packages,

two job offers. Of course, you're going to notice the similarities,

but it's the differences that will likely help you make a decision.

It's the differences that will indicate whether one is better or worse

than another.

And contrast language in English helps us talk about the

differences.

Recently I did a lesson focused on the language we use to compare to

show similarities, but in this Confident English lesson today,

we're going to focus on seven ways to show contrast,

the language we use to do that,

the linking words that allow us to create sentence structures to

highlight what's different.

If you're trying to explain someone what your options are and asking them to

help you make a choice, contrast language will help you do that.

But first, if you don't already know, I'm Annemarie,

an English confidence and fluency coach.

Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your

life and work in English.

If you'd love to get past Confident English lessons of mine,

including that lesson on language we use to show similarities,

you can find all of them at my Speak Confident English website.

While you're there,

you can also download my in-depth How to Say What You Want in English training.

In that training,

I share with you one simple strategy you can use to get speaking

practice so that you don't feel stuck in conversations and to help you

develop overall confidence and fluency. Now,

just in case you missed my previous lesson on the topic of making comparisons,

I want to share two quick things. Number one,

I'll leave a link to that lesson in the notes below. And number two,

let's do a quick review of what linking words are because that is the focus of

this lesson. Linking words are also known as transitional words or connectors.

What that means is they help us connect one sentence to another

or link one idea to another.

They build a bridge between those sentences and ideas,

and as a result we have a logical connection.

So if you're speaking and sharing ideas,

you might start talking about one idea and over time begin

talking about another. It's those linking words,

those bridges in the middle that help make that connection and create that

smooth flow while speaking The words that you're going to learn today will help

you do that when you're talking about your options and you need to highlight

the differences to do that,

you're going to learn how to use in contrast to on the other hand,

whereas, as opposed to, unlike,

different from, and not as...as.

At the end I also want to talk about using the words

more than and less than.

And of course with each one of these I'm going to share example sentences with

you so that you can see how to use them with accurate structure,

with accurate grammatical structure. So with that,

let's begin with in contrast to when we want to make a

smooth transition in a sentence to highlight a difference or

introduce an opposing idea,

we can use in contrast to and like other examples that you'll see here today.

We can use this in the middle of the sentence or at the beginning of a sentence.

Now as you'll see in the examples I share with you,

if you're going to use in contrast to at the beginning in writing,

we'll use a come at the end of that clause before going on to the next one.

In speaking, we'll insert a slight pause. For example,

in contrast to my sister who prefers the summer,

I prefer the fall.

There was a little pause there between those clauses and if I were to put that

in writing, I would use a comma and before I share another example with you,

I want to look specifically at how we can use this to create a link

between sentences to have that nice smooth transition.

I could have two separate sentences. For example,

this summer has been quite warm last summer wasn't as warm

using the words in contrast to I can combine these two sentences into

one elegant sentence with a smooth transition.

In contrast to last year, this summer has been quite warm.

Let's try another.

I'm going to give you two sentences and then I'm going to pause for a moment and

I want you to think about how you would use in contrast to,

to combine them into one the first sentence.

Older generations often prefer traditional music. The second sentence,

younger generations do not.

How would you combine those two sentences using in contrast to one

option?

Older generations often prefer traditional music in

contrast to younger generations. At the start of this section,

I used the sentence in contrast to my sister who prefers summer,

I prefer fall. If I were to split that into two separate sentences,

they could be my sister prefers summer, I prefer fall.

For the last example,

I want you to combine those sentences and this time put the words in

contrast to in the middle. My original example put them at the beginning,

but how could we put them in the middle? Here's my example.

I prefer fall in contrast to my sister who prefers summer

and now the second linking phrase is on the other hand,

similar to the words in contrast to this phrase,

is used to indicate an opposing view or idea and it's often used

in brainstorming discussions when you want to reflect on different viewpoints

or consider different suggestions. For example,

the company might save money by outsourcing,

but on the other hand it may lose control over quality.

Here's a second example. If I take this new job offer,

I'll have the opportunity to travel a lot for work, which I really enjoy.

On the other hand, I'm up for a rather generous promotion at my current company.

I really don't know what to do. Let's take a moment to practice this one.

I want you to think about whether you're trying to make a difficult decision

right now or perhaps you're trying to find the right way forward on a

project and you have a few options.

How might you use this linking phrase on the other hand to

indicate these opposing views,

these opposing opportunities or these different options?

If you want,

you can share your example sentence with me in the comments below and now

linking word number three,

whereas whereas is often used in written English

and in more formal conversations it can be used to

introduce an opposing or contrasting statement,

especially if you're comparing opposing ideas, conditions, or facts.

Here are two example sentences of how you would use it.

Cutting costs would be a good course of action for our business,

whereas taking on another expense would strain us.

Just as we highlighted earlier,

I could split this sentence into two separate sentences. However,

because it is a bridge or a connection,

it allows us to put these two ideas into one sentence

and highlight the contrast or the opposing ideas,

the opposing realities. Here's another example,

and this time we'll put it at the beginning of the sentence,

whereas company profits skyrocketed last quarter,

employ employee satisfaction plummeted. Now,

if you're not sure if something skyrockets,

it increases rapidly and dramatically.

If something plummets,

it falls or drops rapidly and dramatically,

so we have two opposing actions happening here.

Next on our list is as opposed to,

we typically use this one to indicate contrasting choices or

preferences when we have options. For example,

I prefer coffee as opposed to tea.

If someone gives me two options,

I'm indicating my preference of one for the other.

Here's another example.

The company decided to invest in sustainable packaging

as opposed to single use plastics and a third example,

she decided to pursue a career in it as opposed to human resources.

In each of those three examples,

we have a choice to make and there are options available to us.

The words opposed to help us highlight the preferences or

distinguish what we prefer. Before we go on to our fifth example,

I want to give you two practice opportunities. First,

I want you to think about a past decision you made.

It might be your choice of careers or perhaps your choice of what

university to attend. Maybe you had two job offers and again,

you had to make a choice.

How would you use as opposed to to indicate your preference in that decision

and if it's helpful, you can follow the example.

She decided to pursue a career in it as opposed to human resources

and now here's a second practice option,

and this time we're also going to focus on the placement of these words.

I'm going to share an example sentence with you and I'll put as opposed to in

the middle,

I want you to rearrange the sentence and put those words at the beginning.

Here's the example sentence.

Sarah has decided to stay one month longer in Indonesia as opposed to

traveling home next week.

How would you rearrange that sentence and put as opposed to at the beginning?

If you're not sure, here's how you could do it,

as opposed to traveling home next week,

Sarah has decided to stay in Indonesia or Sarah has decided to stay

in Indonesia for a month longer and now linking word number five,

unlike this is a simple straightforward way to highlight

differences or how two things are not alike.

You could use it if you're comparing the differences between items,

people or ideas,

and of course it's used to emphasize that two things are not

similar. They are not alike. For example,

unlike her brother,

she enjoys playing soccer and participating in outdoor sports

or unlike previous years, we are expecting a short,

mild winter. Now because it's very similar,

I want to move directly onto the next one.

Different from just like the word,

unlike the words different from help us highlight the differences

or variations, however, it's more neutral in tone.

Rather than emphasize a difference,

it focuses on variation. In other words,

you can think about the word unlike indicating strong

differences, almost black and white differences,

whereas the words different from might focus more on

the variations, the different shades of gray. For example,

perhaps you're having a discussion on how your current boss approaches problem

solving and you are highlighting the fact that it's different from how a

previous boss approached this issue.

You don't want to indicate that one is particularly good or bad.

You don't want to indicate that they are vastly different. Instead,

you simply want to state that they aren't alike,

but that doesn't mean that one is better than the other.

Here's how we could do that.

Her approach to problem solving is different from Greta's approach.

It doesn't mean that it's better or worse, it's just different.

It's another variation. Another example,

the climate in this region of the United States is different from what I'm used

to. Again, it doesn't mean that it's better or worse,

it's just different. It's a variation. And now number seven on our list,

not as. As here,

we typically use an adjective or an adverb in the structure.

Not as beautiful as not as quickly

as when we use this structure,

we typically use it to highlight that something is less than or

inferior to another. For example,

today is not as warm as yesterday.

It's less warm than it was yesterday. Another example,

I'm not as fond of spicy food as you are.

Again,

I'm less fond of spicy food and a third example,

this software is not as effective as the older version.

In other words, it's inferior. Now when using this particular structure,

we have to be careful of something.

We have to be careful to avoid double negatives.

What that means is we don't want to repeat the word not or the

word no. For example, here's a mistake I've seen before.

This movie is not as good,

not his last one.

Here we've got that word not repeated twice so we have a double negative.

Here's how to make it correct.

This movie is not as good as his last one.

Now, before we get to our final practice activity,

I want to talk a little bit about using the words more than and less than

in our previous example, using not as.

As we highlighted that this can be used to show that something is less

than another or inferior to another,

and without a doubt we can use the words more than or less than when

we want to highlight the differences.

This is particularly helpful when we want to highlight the

quantity or the degree to which something is different.

More than typically indicates that something exceeds something else

and less than might be used to show that something has fallen short.

For example,

her report was less focused and detailed than his report

was. In other words, it fell short, it was inferior to his report.

Another example,

the company's proposal offered a more generous timeline than

the others. We'll be moving forward with the sale soon, of course,

in this example,

with more than we're indicating that one proposal exceeded or

was far better than another, and here's one final example.

The restaurant was less impressive than we expected.

Now that you have these seven different examples of linking words and phrases

that help you make contrasts in English,

allowing you to highlight differences, talk about them with others,

and hopefully make a better decision, let's do a quick quiz.

I have a couple of sentences here.

I want you to fill in the blanks and if you want my answers,

you can find them in the comments below. Honestly,

I was disappointed the movie was good.

I thought it would be,

I expected it to be action packed and engaging.

It was, what do you think?

If you want one more practice opportunity, here's a question for you.

I want you to think about a recent situation when you had to make a choice

between two things. How would you use the word?

Whereas to help you explain your preference or to help you explain why

you made a particular choice. As always,

you can share your example sentence with me in the comments below. Now,

if you found today's lesson helpful,

I would love to know and you can tell me in one very simple way.

Give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube and while you're at it,

make sure you subscribe to my Speak Confident English Channel so you never miss

one of my Confident English lessons.

Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next time.