Text Structures

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison and Contrast

How are dogs and cats different?How are dogs and cats the same?

Definition: Compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between two things.

Comparison and Contrast

Cake is baked in an oven.

People spend hundreds of dollars for the perfect cake for a wedding.

Both change from their initial liquid form in order to be consumed.

Cake and ice cream are both served at certain special occasions.

There are many different varieties and flavors of these desserts.

Ice cream melts easily when left at room temperature.

Ice or a freezer must to be used for ice cream to be prepared to eat.

Comparison and Contrast

Tornadoes can happen away from large bodies of water.

Tornadoes can touch down very quickly, sometimes without as much warning as hurricanes.

Hurricanes occur in or near water.

Hurricanes can be predicted to happen more ahead of time than tornadoes.

Both are storms.

Both hurricanes and tornadoes spin.

Hurricanes and tornadoes can cause major damage.

People are alerted by watches or warnings that the storms can or will occur.

Both have high wind gusts.

What are the signal words?

Contrastdifferent fromin contrastalthoughmore thanless thaninstead ofhoweveron the other handon the contraryas opposed tobut notwhileunless

same asalikenot only…but alsoeither…orlikewisesimilarlysimilar tocompared withas well asresemble

Compare

What are the signal words in the following passage?Chimpanzees and humans are alike in many ways. A baby chimp

laughs when its mother tickles it. After chimpanzees fight, they kiss and make up. When one chimpanzee comforts another, it gives it a hug or pat on the back. There are, of course, many ways that chimpanzees and humans are different. Chimpanzees are smaller and stronger than humans. An adult male chimpanzee stands three or four feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds. But a chimpanzee can lift more weight than a man who is six feet tall.

The kiss each other.

Both human and chimp babies laugh at being tickled.

People and chimpanzees try to resolve disagreements.

Chimps have a smaller stature than humans.

Even though they are smaller, chimps can lift more.

People are taller than chimpanzees.

A male human is able to lift less weight than chimps.

Dyck, 2000

Compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between two things

(Adapted from Tompkins, 2006)

ContrastContrastContrastContrastCompareCompare

same asalikenot only…but alsoeither…orlikewisesimilarlysimilar tocompared withas well asresemble

different fromin contrastalthoughmore thanless thaninstead ofhowever

on the other handon the contraryas opposed tobut notwhileunless

Comparison and Contrast

CompareCompare

•As the passage is read, think about the key words. Be ready to respond to portions where the two topics are alike and when they are different.•On your comparison and contrast graphic organizer, write how the topics are different on the outer part of the Venn Diagram and how the topics are the same on the inner portion.

•On the back of your page, compare and contrast another topic that you have read about.