Improve Your Writing - 6 ways to compare
(Bấm vào đây để chọn bài học kế tiếp)
Xem lời thoại bên dưới:
0:01
Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you some key words you
0:08
can use when you talk about how things are the same or similar. Okay? So when you compare
0:15
two things -- when you're comparing apples and oranges, there are some similarities.
0:22
They're both fruits. When you're comparing shopping to skiing, when you're comparing
0:28
a city to a country or the countryside -- there is a certain language we like to use when
0:35
we're saying how these things are similar or the same. In this video, I'm going to teach
0:41
you a bunch of expressions you can use when comparing two things to show their similarities.
0:47
Okay? So this video is called "Talking about similarities".
0:54
So for this video, I decided I wanted to do a theme. I wanted to look at how Canada and
1:03
England are similar. In what ways are they very much alike? Okay? So each of my sentences
1:11
are going to have to do with Canada and England, and we're going to look at how they're alike
1:16
using these comparison words.
1:19
So for those of you watching, if you are doing the TOEFL, these words are essential. If you
1:25
are doing the IELTS -- very important vocabulary here. General English, you can use these at
1:32
university for essays, college, or even just general conversation. So let's get started.
1:40
Okay. So how are Canada and England the same? Well, I would say, first of all, both Canada
1:52
and England have a queen. Both Canada and England have Queen Elizabeth. So one word
1:59
we often use when we're talking about similarities is this word, "both". Both Canada and England
2:08
have a queen. Both Canada and England have trees. Both Canada and England have cities.
2:17
Okay? So there are a lot of different things you can compare. This is just one of them.
2:22
Now, I want to say why I wrote the word "beginning" here. "Both" often comes at the beginning
2:30
of a sentence. And notice how the construction is. We have both A and B. Another example,
2:42
"Both cats and dogs are animals." "Both hamsters and mice are rodents." Okay? So we use this
2:51
a lot when we're comparing.
2:53
We can also say "like". In this case, we're not saying, "I like Canada" or "I like" -- you
3:00
know, showing preference -- we're again showing similarity. "Like Canada, England has many
3:08
immigrants." Canada has many immigrants. England has many immigrants. "Like Canada, England
3:16
has many immigrants." And again, you'll notice "like" is at the beginning of the sentence.
3:22
It's often -- not always, but often -- at the beginning. We have it followed by a noun.
3:31
I could change this to something else. Imagine if I wanted to compare cats and dogs.
3:37
"Like cats, dogs have fur." Okay? I could say that. If I'm comparing men and women,
3:47
"Like women, men are human." Okay? It's not the greatest of comparisons, but you can use these types
3:56
of words when you're comparing. Okay?
4:00
So now, I have some other things I want to compare. In England, they speak English. In
4:08
Canada, we also speak English. Not everybody, but many Canadians speak English. Some speak
4:15
French, but a lot of people speak English. So I'm going to teach you some words you can
4:20
use when comparing these two sentences. "In England, they speak English. Similarly, in
4:29
Canada many people speak English, too. In comparison, in Canada many people also speak
4:38
English. In the same way, in Canada many people speak English." And finally, another way similar
4:47
to this but slightly different, "Likewise, in Canada many people speak English."
4:54
So these are a little bit different from these ones. They all mean how they are the same.
5:03
But you'll notice one of the differences here is these are followed by a comma. "Likewise,
5:10
comma." And then, we have the rest of the sentence. These go at the beginning of the
5:16
sentence. Okay? In case you can't tell, this is a period. So we have our first sentence,
5:23
"In England, they speak English. Similarly, in Canada many people speak English." Okay?
5:31
So you can use these in your writing. They would really, really help on your TOEFL, IELTS,
5:37
or university essays to help you get a better mark.
5:42
One other thing to say about these, just to give another example -- let's use cats and
5:48
dogs because it's easier. If we wanted to compare cats and dogs, maybe we could talk
5:54
about how they're great pets. People love cats; people love dogs. Okay? Maybe you don't
6:00
like them, but just for the example. So we can say, "Dogs are great pets. Similarly,
6:10
cats are also great pets. Dogs are great pets. In comparison, cats are also great pets. In
6:19
the same way, cats are great pets. Or likewise." Okay?
6:22
So now, let's look at some more of these types of expressions. Okay. Before we move on to
6:29
some comparison words that you can use in the middle of a sentence, I just wanted to
6:33
add one note about "in comparison". Okay? "In comparison" is also used with differences.
6:41
When you compare two things, you're saying how they're alike. But sometimes, because
6:46
of the way we use the word, "in comparison" can also be used when we're showing things
6:52
that are different. It's used in both of these ways. Okay?
6:57
So now, let's look at some sentences -- the middle of some sentences, some new words we
7:01
can use. The first one I want to teach you is "is similar to". Okay? And the key here
7:10
is preposition. A lot of the times, students don't put the right preposition. So they'll
7:18
say "is similar of", "is similar for". In this case, it's "to". "Canada is similar to
7:25
England." This is one way to show equality or similarity. "Cats are similar to dogs."
7:36
Okay? Another example, we can also say "is the same as". "Canada is the same as England."
7:46
This is a little stronger than "is similar to" because you're saying they're pretty much
7:51
the same. A lot of people would disagree, but just another word, "is the same as". Okay.
7:58
So let's use some of these together. I have here a blank. "England -- the USA" What similar
8:07
word or what comparing word can we use here? Take a moment to think. We could say, "England
8:16
is similar to the USA" Do you agree with that? I don't know. Tell me what you think.
8:29
Let's look at B. "In England, people speak English -- in the USA" So what could we add
8:40
here? "In England, people speak English -- in the USA." So there's actually a mistake here.
8:47
We'll add "people also speak English.
9:00
Okay. So what could we put over here? There are
9:05
many different things we could put. We could put "similarly"; we could put "likewise".
9:16
Okay? "In comparison." There are many different words we could use here.
9:21
Finally, let's try the last one. "Blank -- England, the USA is very multicultural." Meaning there
9:29
are people from all over the word living there. What could we say here? That's right, "like".
9:38
"Like England, the USA is very multicultural."
9:42
So thank you for watching this video. I invite you to come check out our website at www.engvid.com.
9:49
There, you can practice all of these words in our quiz. You can make sure that you're
9:54
using the correct preposition, the correct words in the correct ways. So I invite you
9:59
to come visit our website. Also, you can subscribe to my videos. There are a lot of different
10:05
resources on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and many more things.
10:11
So until next time, take care.
