Using Comparison and Definition
The 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.
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.