208 – Analytical language 2: rhetorical strategies
the kind of analysis we have already learned about in this book. In
particular, comparing and contrasting is hardly to be distinguished
at all from defining.
If you ask yourself what the purpose of comparing two things
could conceivably be, you will see that the answer can best be
expressed in terms of defining the boundaries of one with respect
to the other. For example, the topic we looked at above as an exercise
in definition – ‘What is the difference between trade and exchange?’ –
could equally have been worded ‘Compare and contrast the notions
of trade and exchange’. In order to carry out a comparison, we must
therefore make use of those criteria about which we have had much to
say in this chapter. We can only compare two things with respect to
certain specified qualities or criteria. So the main difficulty in comparing and contrasting lies in finding them. It is this, rather than hunting
about for ‘similarities and differences’, that you should concentrate
on.
The shopping analogy we used earlier might help you see this.
Compiling a list of the similarities and differences between brands does
not of itself help you decide unless you order these characteristics
according to some set of criteria – price, quality, durability, compatibility with what you already own, design, and so on. You must then
weight or rank these criteria according to some set of priorities
you have established. Even if ‘price is no object’, some other criteria
will be. You are also likely to find that each product has some features
which are quite absent in the others. Listing these miscellaneous differences is of little help to your decision-making unless you have some
means of assessing their importance. You cannot actually compare
or contrast the quality of the four-speaker stereo system fitted as
standard in one motor car with that of the air-conditioning unit fitted
to its competitor. All you can do is to rank these features with respect
to what you think important in a car. That ranking will be affected
by quite other criteria.
It is for these reasons that listing a set of descriptive characteristics on one side of a page and another set for the contrasting
phenomenon on the other side is by itself insufficient as a method of
preparing your comparative essay. Let us take a topic from sociology:
the kind of analysis we have already learned about in this book. In
particular, comparing and contrasting is hardly to be distinguished
at all from defining.
If you ask yourself what the purpose of comparing two things
could conceivably be, you will see that the answer can best be
expressed in terms of defining the boundaries of one with respect
to the other. For example, the topic we looked at above as an exercise
in definition – ‘What is the difference between trade and exchange?’ –
could equally have been worded ‘Compare and contrast the notions
of trade and exchange’. In order to carry out a comparison, we must
therefore make use of those criteria about which we have had much to
say in this chapter. We can only compare two things with respect to
certain specified qualities or criteria. So the main difficulty in comparing and contrasting lies in finding them. It is this, rather than hunting
about for ‘similarities and differences’, that you should concentrate
on.
The shopping analogy we used earlier might help you see this.
Compiling a list of the similarities and differences between brands does
not of itself help you decide unless you order these characteristics
according to some set of criteria – price, quality, durability, compatibility with what you already own, design, and so on. You must then
weight or rank these criteria according to some set of priorities
you have established. Even if ‘price is no object’, some other criteria
will be. You are also likely to find that each product has some features
which are quite absent in the others. Listing these miscellaneous differences is of little help to your decision-making unless you have some
means of assessing their importance. You cannot actually compare
or contrast the quality of the four-speaker stereo system fitted as
standard in one motor car with that of the air-conditioning unit fitted
to its competitor. All you can do is to rank these features with respect
to what you think important in a car. That ranking will be affected
by quite other criteria.
It is for these reasons that listing a set of descriptive characteristics on one side of a page and another set for the contrasting
phenomenon on the other side is by itself insufficient as a method of
preparing your comparative essay. Let us take a topic from sociology: