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You may develop a paragraph by comparison or contrast. In this case the central idea of a paragraph is made clearer by a series of contrasts or comparisons. Often both methods are used in a paragraph.

Such a paragraph shows how an object or a person is like or unlike some other object or person. A comparison shows the ways in which two things are similar, a contrast - the ways in which they are different.

Here is a sample of a paragraph, the central idea of which is developed by a comparison:

“Such discussions with his son had confirmed in Jolyon a doubt whether the world had really changed. People said that it was a new age. With the profundity of one not too long for any age, Jolyon perceived that under slightly different surfaces the era was precisely what it had been. Mankind was still divided into two species. The few who had “speculation” in their souls, and the many who had none, with a belt of hybrids like himself in the middle. John appeared to have speculation; it seemed to his father a bad lookout.”

(J. Galsworthy. The Forsyte Saga. Book Three)

Writing a Paragraph

A. Find the following in the sample paragraph:

1. The topic sentence;
2. Sentences building up the central idea;
3. The clincher sentence;
4. The ways the writer uses comparison, contrast or both.

B. Use one of the statements to develop a paragraph by comparison, contrast or both. Vary your sentence structure to avoid monotony. Read and discuss your paragraphs in class, or change them for written criticism.

1) City life offers many contrasts to rural life.

2) My brother (or sister, or friend) and I are exact opposites.