bothering d. pleasing Second, replace the vocabulary word with the remaining answers, one at a time. Does the answer

win your readers over point by point. If your less important points make sense to the reader, then your more important points will come off stronger. And, as the saying goes, writers often “save the best for last” because that’s where “the best” often has the most impact. In other words, the writer’s purpose helps to determine the structure he or she uses. Transitions are very important for this organizational pattern, too. Here’s a list of the most common transitions writers use with the order of importance structure. Most of these work for both most-to-least important and least-to-most important patterns: first and foremost most importantly more importantly moreover above all first, second, third last but not least finally C OMPARISON AND C ONTRAST When you show how two or more things are similar, you are making a comparison. When you show how two or more things are different, you are contrasting them. This technique gives you a way to classify or judge the items you are analyzing. By placing two or more items side by side, for example, you can see how they meas- ure up against each other. How are they similar or different? And why does it matter? For example, you might say that the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was even better than Star Wars. Both featured warriors with special powers and a love story comparison. But in Crouching Tiger, the fighters relied much more on their physical strength and agility than on powered weapons, which are plentiful in Star Wars contrast. And Crouching Tiger featured female warriors as strong as or even stronger than the male fighters contrast. Whenever an author is comparing and contrasting two or more items, he or she is doing it for a rea- son. There’s something the author wants to point out by putting these two items side by side. For example, we could compare the French Revolution and the American Revolution to show how they both overthrew monarchies to create a free republic. One of the keys to a good comparison and contrast is strong transitions. It’s important to let readers know when you are comparing and when you are contrasting. As a reader, it’s important to watch for these transitions. Here are some words and phrases that show similarity: similarly in the same way likewise like in a like manner just as and also both The following words and phrases, on the other hand, show difference: but on the other hand yet however on the contrary in contrast conversely while unlike – R E A D I N G C O M P R E H E N S I O N S K I L L S – 4 0