“In Contrast” or “On the Contrary”?
Greetings again. I hope you’re doing well.
My blog post this week regards a language issue: when to use “in contrast” versus when to use “on the contrary”. Non-native speakers of English often confuse these expressions. Recently someone asked me the difference. Here’s a version of my response.
“In contrast” indicates that two items have different characteristics in one or more regards. Here are some examples:
- The north of the country is cold and dry. In contrast, the south is hot and wet.
- My brother is tall and has straight hair. In contrast, my sister is medium height and has curly hair.
- Introductions to papers in medical journals usually are short. In contrast, introductions to papers in social science journals usually are long.
In contrast, “on the contrary” indicates that the opposite of a belief is true. Some examples:
- Some students seem to think that plagiarism is a minor offense. On the contrary, plagiarism is a serious offense.
- It is often believed that writing good journal articles requires special talent. On the contrary, writing good journal articles requires mainly knowledge and hard work.
In short, use “in contrast” if you could introduce the second statement by saying “Please note this difference.” Use “on the contrary” if you could say “No! The opposite is true.”
Have language questions arisen in your writing? If so, feel free to ask them. You can post a comment below or email me at bgastel@inasp.info. Maybe a future blog post will address your question. In any case, I’ll try to answer your question or mention a resource that does so.
Until the next post—
Barbara