Using Comparison and Definition
IntroducedThe move that wins an argument about words
- Many arguments are not disagreements about facts at all.
- They are disagreements about what a word covers — fair, effective, necessary.
- Defining the term is how you move the argument to ground where evidence decides.
If “fair” means three different things, an argument that never defines it has three games sharing one ball.
Writing a comparison
- State the category in the first sentence, before either subject appears.
- Then measure both on it, in the same order, in the same terms.
- End by saying what the comparison decided — a comparison that decides nothing was decoration.
In a comparison paragraph, the category of comparison should appear...
The category tells the reader what both subjects are about to be measured on.
Writing a definition
- Name the term and say what it must include for the argument to work.
- Show why a looser definition would let something through that should not pass.
- Then apply your definition to the case — that application is where the marks are.
Is this definition usable?
Sort each definition by whether an opponent could accept it.
After stating a definition, spend your marks on ____ it to the case.
The definition alone is a claim; applying it is the development.
A definition written to suit your conclusion is visible. A reader who can see the term was shaped to produce the answer discounts the answer — so the test is whether an opponent could accept the definition before seeing where it leads.
A definition written to suit your conclusion is usually invisible to a reader.
It is visible, and it costs credibility — the test is whether an opponent could accept it first.
Match each fault to its diagnosis.
Each fault produces a paragraph that looks like development and settles nothing.
Two ways definition goes wrong
- Defining a word nobody disputes wastes a paragraph — check that the term is genuinely contested.
- Defining a term to suit your conclusion is visible to a reader and costs credibility.
- A good definition is one an opponent could accept before seeing where it leads.
Select all the checks this lesson gives.
Length is never a check; what the paragraph settled always is.
Checking your paragraph
- Comparison: cover one subject. Does the category still make sense on its own? It should.
- Definition: would your opponent accept this definition in the abstract? If not, it is loaded.
- Both: what did this paragraph settle that the previous one had left open?
"Call a programme effective if the people it was designed for finish it." An opponent can accept that before knowing the figures. Applied to the case, it does the work — and the argument was won on the definition, not on a dispute about numbers.
State the category before either subject in a comparison, measure both on it, and say what it decided. For a definition, check the term is genuinely contested, keep it one an opponent could accept, and spend your marks on applying it to the case.