Example
whereas (conjunction)
Contrasts two facts in one sentence; formal and clear.
Men spent more on transport, whereas women spent more on clothing.
Written by Fizza Butool Zaidi and Ali Zaidi
13 alternatives
Contrasts two facts in one sentence; formal and clear.
Men spent more on transport, whereas women spent more on clothing.
Same use as whereas, slightly less formal.
Exports rose, while imports remained stable.
Don't swap blindly: While also means 'during the time that'. Make sure the contrast is clear.
Starts a new sentence that contrasts with the previous one.
Car use fell sharply. In contrast, cycling doubled.
Places two figures side by side. British writing slightly prefers 'with' for analysis.
Rents were 40% higher in the capital compared with the second city.
Shows difference; the two things compared must be parallel.
Unlike Spain, Italy saw a fall in tourist numbers.
Don't swap blindly: Compare like with like: 'Unlike Spain, Italy...', not 'Unlike Spain, the figure for Italy...'.
Introduce a second fact that matches the first.
Rents in the north rose by 10%. Similarly, rents in the south increased by 12%.
Close enough to compare; similar but not identical.
The two schools had comparable pass rates, at 78% and 80%.
Exactly equal.
In 2015, the figure for Canada was the same as that for Australia, at 31%.
Don't swap blindly: Only for identical figures; for close ones use similar or comparable.
States difference directly.
Spending patterns in rural areas differed from those in cities.
Precise comparison using multiples.
Boys played twice as many hours of video games as girls.
Don't swap blindly: Many for countable nouns, much for uncountable.
Follow the same pattern as another line.
Wine sales mirrored beer sales throughout the period.
Reach the same level as another figure.
By 2020, women's employment rate had almost matched men's.
Shows that a second group had the opposite pattern.
Older people preferred newspapers; the reverse was true for those under 30.
Paraphrasing
Band tip: the public IELTS Writing band descriptors for Lexical Resource describe Band 7 as using “less common lexical items” with “some awareness of style and collocation”. A synonym that changes your meaning or breaks a collocation works against you, so choose the word that fits the sentence, not the rarest one you know.
In context
People aged 18 to 24 exercised for about six hours a week, roughly twice as long as those aged 45 to 64. Similarly, the 25 to 34 group remained active at over five hours. By contrast, people over 65 exercised for just two hours, although their figure was comparable to that of the 55 to 64 group.
Both are used. British style guides often prefer 'compared with' when you analyse similarities and differences, and 'compared to' when you liken one thing to another. In Task 1, 'compared with' is the safer choice.
Both contrast two facts. Whereas is slightly more formal and only means contrast. While can also mean 'during the time that', so check the sentence cannot be misread.
Use whereas, while or in contrast for differences, similarly or likewise for similarities, and comparative structures such as 'twice as many as' for exact relationships.
It replaces a noun you have just used: 'Spain's unemployment rate was higher than that of Italy' means 'than Italy's unemployment rate'. Use 'those of' for plurals.
Practise
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