Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Biggest Comparison Essay DON'T: Too Much Unnecessary Details


Comparison essay’s main goal is to provide a sound and logical relationship between the subjects. Employing too much unnecessary details in writing comparison essays can result to vague, irrational and even hilarious compositions.


Here are some examples of the biggest comparison essay don’t. Excerpts from the “30 dumbest things from school essays” (http://www.algebra.com/fun/Essays/):

No. 3 He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.


No. 14 Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.


No. 23 He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.


No. 11 From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.


No. 24 The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.


No. 8 The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.


No. 30 It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.


No. 12 Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.


No. 5 She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.


Comparison essays highlight relevant similarities among the subjects. Like descriptive essays, comparisons entail details – clear and rational. Using details to emphasize similar qualities still have to be sensible or else, that comparison essay will be included next in the 31 dumbest things list.


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