Sequence 2 — Me, My Personality and Life Experiences › Language form
Comparison and contrast markers : « like », « unlike », « whereas »
- التمييز بين like للتشابه وunlike للاختلاف، وبين هذين وwhereas
- معرفة ما يتبع كلّ أداة : اسم بعد like · unlike، وجملة تامّة بعد whereas · but
- تصدير الجملة بـUnlike … ووضع الفاصلة في موضعها
- التعبير عن الموافقة بـSo + auxiliary + subject وعن الموافقة في النفي بـNeither + auxiliary + subject
- كتابة فقرة مقارنة بين عادتين أو مكانين أو زمنين
- الفرق بين الاسم والجملة التامّة (فاعل + فعل)
- الأفعال المساعدة : do · does · did · can · have · will
- الربط بـand · but وموقع الفاصلة
Presentation
Tony's diet on a typical day Breakfast — cereals, milk, boiled tomatoes, omelette, tea and choco-pops. Elevenses — tea and wafers. Lunch — fish and chips with ketchup, a soda cola and a yoghurt. Supper — boiled potatoes, peas, lamb, salad. Snacks during the day — three cans of soda, one packet of pop-corn, three bars of chocolate. ⟹ Now write to a British friend and tell him about Algerian mealtimes. Start like this: “Unlike the British, the Algerians have only ______ meals a day. First, they have ______ when they get up, usually at ______ . It's made of ______ . Next, they have ______ at around ______ …”
What does this page tell you before you read any rule?What does this page tell you before you read any rule?ماذا تعلّمك هذه الصفحة قبل أن تقرأ القاعدة ؟
- Tony's day has a meal you have never had at that hour: elevenses, between breakfast and lunch. Nothing in the list says it is unusual — you only see it because you are comparing.
- The letter you are asked to write does not begin with the Algerians. It begins with the British, and it says at once that we are not like them.
- Look at what comes after Unlike: the British — a noun, and nothing else. No verb. You could not write “Unlike the British have four meals”.
- And look at the comma. Unlike + noun at the front of a sentence always closes with a comma, exactly like a discourse marker.
⟹ One word placed at the very front changed the whole letter: it turned a list into a comparison. The rest of the lesson gives you the other words of that family — and tells you what each one is allowed to carry.
| Marker | What follows it, and where it stands | Example |
|---|---|---|
| like — same | a noun or a pronoun; inside the sentence | He sells second-hand cars, just like him. |
| unlike — not the same | a noun or a pronoun; usually at the front, with a comma after the group | Unlike the British, the Algerians have only three meals a day. |
| whereas — contrast | a whole sentence; in the middle, with a comma before it | Tony drinks three cans of soda a day, whereas Amine drinks water. |
| but — the simplest contrast | a whole sentence; in the middle | Everybody hates snakes, but I love them. |
Saying it in one breath: “so do I” and “neither do I”
In conversation, English does not compare with like and unlike — it answers in three words. Complete each answer with the right auxiliary. a. “I have got a bulldog.” — “So … I.” b. “I can't be friends with people who are cruel to animals.” — “Neither … I.” c. “I don't like people who mistreat animals.” — “Neither … I.” d. “I like reading.” — “So … I.”
The answers, and the rule behind themThe answers, and the rule behind themالأجوبة، والقاعدة التي وراءها.
a. So have I. · b. Neither can I. · c. Neither do I. · d. So do I. Four answers, four different auxiliaries — and you did not choose them freely. Each one was already in the sentence you are answering: have got, can't, don't, and, for “I like”, the auxiliary that a plain present verb hides, do.
⚠️ Read the first line twice: it is where almost every mistake happens. “I like reading” has no auxiliary that you can hear — but it has one hiding inside it, and its name is do. ⟹ To “I like reading” you answer So do I, never “So can I”.
Practice
a. … the British, we do not eat between breakfast and lunch. b. Tony has five meals a day, … we have three. c. He eats fish and chips at lunch, just … his father. d. Six hundred years ago man couldn't travel by plane, … he could travel on horseback. e. … his uncle, Paul will sell second-hand cars.
Answers to Exercise 1Answers to Exercise 1
| Answer | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| a | Unlike the British, we do not eat between breakfast and lunch. | a noun follows, and the two are different |
| b | Tony has five meals a day, whereas we have three. | a whole sentence follows ⟹ whereas (but also works) |
| c | He eats fish and chips at lunch, just like his father. | a noun follows, and the two are the same |
| d | …couldn't travel by plane, but he could travel on horseback. | a whole sentence, and the contrast is ordinary ⟹ but |
| e | Like his uncle, Paul will sell second-hand cars. | a noun follows, and the two are the same ⟹ Like, with a comma |
Choose one pair: your town then and now · your school and your primary school · your day and your grandfather's day · an Algerian meal and a foreign one. a. Open with Unlike …, and a noun. b. Give one point they have in common, with like. c. Give one clear difference, with whereas — check that a subject and a verb follow it. d. Close with a sentence containing but. ⛔ Compare only things you have really seen. An invented difference is visible immediately, because it has no detail in it.
Answers to Exercise 2 — one possible paragraphAnswers to Exercise 2 — one possible paragraph
- Unlike my grandfather, I go to school by bus.
- Like him, I leave the house before seven o'clock.
- He used to walk for an hour, whereas I sit down and wait.
- The road is the same one, but the noise is not.
⭐ Look at what the four markers did to four ordinary facts. Alone, “I go to school by bus” is worth nothing. Placed against the walk of an hour, it becomes an idea. ⟹ A comparison is not decoration on top of information: it is what turns two facts into one meaning.
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