Comparing and contrasting

1. Ways of comparing things or people:

- small – smaller- (the) smallest; difficult – more difficult – (the) most difficult: This is the least important fact.. This is the least acceptable variant. The book contains far morethan its title suggests.

- A=B (A is as adj as B): This reaction is as fast as that described above. The new procedure is twice as effective as the old one. This substance reacts half as fast as the other one.

- A > B (A is more adj than B: The peak at A is larger than the peak at B. We will examine this connection more carefullythan the previous authors.

- A < B (A is less adj than B): His is a question of much lesstheoretical importance

- A ¹ B (A is not as/so adj as B): This catalyst proved to be not so effective as the first one.

- the…the …: The higher the energy of bombarding electrons, the greater the number of secondary electrons to be emitted.

1. What you say when comparing things or people:

Compared to / with (especially for numbers or amounts): This year’s profits are much higher compared to last year’s. The average male now has a life expectancy of 77.6 years compared with 75 in 1960. Mortality rates are lower for women as compared with men.

By comparison / in comparison (when compared with another thing, person): Young male drivers have far more accidents by comparison with other groups. Salaries in Russia are lower in comparison with the USA.

As against / as opposed to (contrasting two figures or pieces of information): The company achieved sales of $404 million as against $ 310 million in the previous year.

In proportion to / in relation to (when considering the relationship between the size or amount of smth): His head is big in proportion to the rest of his body.

Relative (adj): It is too early to make a judgment about the relative importance of these different factors.

1. To compare things or people:

To compare: The graph compares the number of students joining the university to study history and chemistry.

To make / draw a comparison: In her article she makes a comparison between people’s life now and 50 years ago.

To contrast: These results contrast sharply with the results described in the article.

To make / draw a distinction between: The author draws a distinction between experimental data and computed ones.

To make / draw an analogy: Abstract concepts are often best explained by drawing analogies.

To draw a parallel: Some authors make attempts to draw a parallel between brains and computers.

V1. Translate into Russian:

A.

1. The general problem is considerably more difficult. 2. There are at least three objections to this plan. 3. This rule is as important as the above rule. 4. These operations are performed not as easily as the others. 5. The more attentively you listen the more you hear. 6. The second limitation is far more serious. 7. We got the value that is well above the predicted one. 8. Now we have two less variables in our equation. 9. They attempted to make this process more systematic. 10. The broader the information available the sooner are the difficulties explained.

B.

1. The condition M greater than or less than N ensures that the capacity C is satisfied at all the stages. 2. The exact expressions are almost as easy to evaluate as the approximate ones. 3. It is not so simple a problem as it seems. 4. A compound is considered more stable the smaller its potential energy. 5. The number of plates needed for chromatography is much higher that that required for distillation. 6. The axis is turned as much as thirty degrees. 7. The higher the purity of titanium the easier it is to fabricate, but the lower is its strength. 8. In view of this fact I decided to place much greater emphasis on general principles, and less on the details of individual systems. 9. The models must be as independent as possible, and as reusable as possible. 10. What we seem to know least of all is the temperature inside the Earth.

V2. Translate into English:

C

1.Давайте сравним данные первого и второго экспериментов. 2. По сравнению с некоторыми странными Европы зарплата инженера в России довольно низкая. 3. Доллар упал на 10% относительно евро за последнюю неделю. 4. В начале Вашей презентации Вам следует провести сравнение результатов, полученных в ходе эксперимента и результатов, известных из литературных источников. 5. Необходимо провести четкое различие между теоретическими предположениями и результатами эксперимента. 6. Для того чтобы пояснить данное условие, давайте проведем следующую аналогию. 7. Следует внимательно обдумать сравнительные преимущества обоих подходов к решению данной задачи. 8. Чем выше температура, чем ниже давление, тем меньше требуется времени.