Comparison, Definition and Description
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| description/dɪˈskrɪpʃn/ | description |
| comparison-contrast/kəmˈpærɪsn ˈkɒntræst/ | Setting two things beside each other to show likeness and difference. |
| definition/ˌdefɪˈnɪʃn/ | The strongest move available when the terms of a debate are contestable. |
| sensory details/ˈsensəri ˈdiːteɪlz/ | sensory details |
Two descriptions side by side are not a comparison
- Write a paragraph on A, then a paragraph on B, and you have described two things.
- A comparison needs something both are measured on.
- That shared measure is what the CED calls a category of comparison.
Two portraits hung side by side will not compare themselves; give the reader a feature to inspect.
Comparison-contrast
- Developing through comparison-contrast 比较对照, writers present a category of comparison and then examine similarities and differences within it.
- The category comes first; the two subjects are then measured on it.
- Omitting the category is the commonest way a comparison paragraph fails.
Choose the method the reasoning needs, not the one the topic suggests
Which method, and is it complete?
Sort each paragraph move by the method and whether it is doing its job.
A comparison paragraph fails most often because the writer omits...
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Without a stated category, the paragraph is two descriptions side by side.
Select all the methods of development covered in this lesson.
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Narration and cause-effect were covered in Unit 3.
Definition
- Developing through definition 下定义, writers relate the characteristics or features that make something what it is.
- It is far more powerful than it looks: an argument about what counts as success or fairness has moved to where the evidence can decide.
- Definition is the strongest move available when the terms of a debate are contestable.
An argument about what counts as success is developed through ____.
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Definition moves the argument to ground where the evidence can decide.
A comparison without a stated category is two descriptions. The CED puts "present a category of comparison" first in the method for a reason — without it, a reader cannot tell what the two subjects are being measured on, and the paragraph makes no argument.
Description with no claim attached still counts as development.
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Unattached description is colour; it develops nothing.
Description
- Developing through description 描写, writers relate sensory details 感官细节 of a subject.
- Its job is to remove abstraction — to let a reader see what they were only being told about.
- Description without a claim attached is colour; description that makes a claim visible is development.
Match each method to what it supplies.
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Each removes a different obstacle: no basis, no agreed terms, or no picture.
Recognising them in a text
- Comparison: look for the stated category, not just two subjects in the same paragraph.
- Definition: look for a writer spending sentences on what a word means — that is never idle.
- Description: ask whether the detail is doing a job or filling space.
Weak: a paragraph on the old scheme, then a paragraph on the new one. Strong: "On the one measure both schemes claim — how many students finish — the old scheme reached 40% and the new one 44%, at three times the cost." The category came first, and the comparison decided something.
Comparison-contrast needs a stated category both subjects are measured on. Definition relates the characteristics that make something what it is, and is the strongest move when terms are contestable. Description uses sensory detail to remove abstraction — attached to a claim, or it is colour.
Write from a wait time
- Two cafes are each described. No shared category is named.
- The writer then measures both on wait time.
- Say when the comparison begins.
A paragraph describes cafe A and then cafe B, with no shared measure. A revision measures both on wait time and says which wait is longer. At what point does the writing become a comparison?
A comparison measures both subjects on one named category.
When do the two cafe descriptions become a comparison?
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The shared category is what makes it a comparison.