Being a parent is a lot like being a gardener. Parents
must bathe, clothe, and feed their children. Parents
must also create and maintain
guidelines for accept-
able behavior for children. Also, parents must see to
it that their children get a proper education.
Gardeners nurture the plants in their gardens.
They pull weeds and
prune them to encourage them
to grow. They feed them and apply insecticides.
They watch them flower and then witness their
demise.
You’ll notice that this
passage seems to focus on
differences between gardeners and parents rather than
the similarities. But is this really a fair contrast? Look at
the aspects of A (the gardener) that are described here.
Do they have any relationship to the aspects of B (the
parent) that are described? No. And
a compare and con-
trast passage can’t be successful unless the aspects of A
and B are discussed comparably. These
two paragraphs
don’t really seem to have a point—there’s no basis for
comparison between gardeners and parents.
Practice
Suppose you were going to write
a paragraph that com-
pares and contrasts readers and detectives. The fol-
lowing are five aspects of being a reader and five aspects
of being a detective listed. Only
three items
in each list
are comparable. Find those three items in each list and
pair them with their matching item. Remember, these
items may be either similarities or differences. What’s
important is that they are comparable aspects.
A reader:
1. Looks for clues to meaning.
2. Has many different types of books to read.
3. Can choose what book to read.
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