Contrast paragraph

A contrast paragraph examines the differences between two things or people. To help you write a good contrast paragraph, you can make an outline in the following format:

OUTLINE

Topic sentence: Plants and animals are different in three ways.


Conclusion: Although they are different, both are amazing creatures.


Based on the outline, it is easier for you to write a contrast paragraph. There are two ways of writing the paragraph. One of them is using this pattern (let's call it Pattern A):

Plants, movement - animals, movement
Plants, food production - animals, food production
Plants, cell walls - animals, cell walls

Another way of writing it is (let's call it Pattern B) as follows:

Plants, movement, food production, cell walls
Animals, movement, food production, cell walls

PARAGRAPH

Below is an example of a paragraph written using Pattern A.

Plants and animals are different in three ways. First, plants stand still and cannot move anywhere, while animals are mobile. Second, plants can produce their own food by using photosynthesis, whereas animals cannot do this and have to find food. Finally, plants have cell walls, but none of animals do. To conclude, although they are different, both are amazing creatures.

Below is an example of a paragraph written using Pattern B.

Plants and animals are different in three ways. Plants stand still and cannot move anywhere. They can produce their own food by using photosynthesis. They also have cell walls. On the other hand, animals are mobile so that they can find food to eat. They do not have cell walls. To conclude, although they are different, both are amazing creatures.

To write a good contrast paragraph, you should use conjunctions and sentence connectors that show contrast. The examples of conjunctions and sentence connectors are highlighted using brown fonts in the above two paragraphs. Here is a list of useful conjunctions and sentence connectors.

Conjunctions
Betty is cheerful, while George is grumpy.
Betty is cheerful, whereas George is grumpy.
Betty is cheerful, but George is grumpy.

Sentence connectors
Betty is cheerful. However, George is grumpy.
Betty is cheerful. On the other hand, George is grumpy.
Betty is cheerful. In contrast, George is grumpy.