Contrastive definitions

If you need to show the differences between two (or more) related terms, use contrastive definitions.

A) Read the draft of a contrastive definition and answer the questions:

1) Do you think it is a good start?

2) Don’t you think that two terms have been presented rather independently?

3) Has the writer made clear the similarity and distinction between the terms? Do you agree that one way to do this would be to say: The former deals with ……, while the latter is concerned with ……

4) Can you suggest other changes that might improve the passage?

Planets are celestial bodies inside our solar system that rotate around the sun. The Earth is one of these planets. Planets are formed with the help of the atoms of stars that exploded into supernovas some 14 billion years ago. Planets that were formed close to the sun remained hot for a long time while those far away became soft and were labeled as soft gas giants such as Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune. On the other hand, stars are bodies of hot gases that remain intact because of high heat generated through thermonuclear reactions taking place at their centers that use hydrogen as a fuel and convert it into helium. As long as there is enough fuel, stars remain in their shape but explode once this fuel is used up and spew out many elements into outer space.

http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-star-and-vs-planet/