Comparing two viewpoints
Two writers can describe the same event and leave you with opposite impressions. Comparison work is about naming that difference precisely, using evidence.
Part of your national curriculum
- Reading: Compare and contrast the treatment of themes and viewpoints across two or more texts
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Compare viewpoints across two texts
Key learning points
- • Find the stance first
- • Link, don't list
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 10 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 10
Watch first
Comparing two viewpoints
An English teaching video on this topic from Growing Primary. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Compare viewpoints across two texts
Explore the idea
Part 2 of 10
Learn
Find the stance first
Before analysing language, decide in one sentence what each writer wants you to think. Everything else is evidence for that.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 10
Learn
Link, don't list
Use comparative connectives — whereas, by contrast, similarly — so each point holds both texts at once instead of describing them one after the other.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 10
Worked example
A comparison sentence that works
Whereas the campaigner uses emotive verbs such as 'stranded' to provoke sympathy, the researcher's neutral reporting of numbers invites the reader to judge for themselves.
Quick check
Part 5 of 10
Quick check
A strong comparison paragraph…
Quick check
Part 6 of 10
Quick check
'Whereas' is useful because it…
Quick check
Part 7 of 10
Quick check
Before analysing language you should identify…
Challenge round
Part 8 of 10
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 9 of 10
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Comparing two viewpoints
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. A strong comparison paragraph…
2. 'Whereas' is useful because it…
3. Before analysing language you should identify…
Lesson round-up
Part 10 of 10
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
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Points this lesson
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Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The last bus
The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.
She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.
Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.
Original extract written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
- How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
- Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.
Reading response
ReadingRead the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
WritingWrite your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.
250–350 words
Reading log
ReadingNote the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.
20 minutes' reading
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 10 · Watch & discover
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Compare and contrast the treatment of themes and viewpoints across two or more texts