COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS


                                     OPPOSITE   and   CONTRARY



Opposite and contrary have similar meanings, but cannot be used interchangeably.



Opposite


Use opposite as follows:


            Black is the opposite of white.

            Up is the opposite of down.



                                               X  is the opposite of  Y



            -   What’s the opposite of happy?

            -   Sad.




Other common examples:



I’m so upset!  I thought I was driving northbound on the highway, and I just realized that I’ve
been driving southbound, instead.  I’ve been driving in the opposite direction for over an hour!


Kids often do the opposite of what their parents tell them.


Melissa is very athletic, but her sister is the exact opposite.  Melissa’s sister never plays
sports of any kind.


            Opposites attract.







RULE:  Use opposite in general, everyday expressions.





Contrary


Use contrary  to describe specific situations.


Examples:


            Contrary to popular belief, economic growth leads to stock market declines.


Contrary to what most people think, economic growth leads to stock market declines.



Use contrary when you want to make a statement, or express an opinion that is the opposite of what
most people believe. [1]



The expressions contrary to and on the contrary will …


                               alert   your listener or your reader


that you intend to contradict a popular idea, a popularly held belief, or that you are simply about
to contradict something they understood to be true.



Examples:


            Mr. A:  Bill told me that the client turned down our proposal.


            Mr. B:   On the contrary, the client accepted it without any changes.

He loved it!  We start next week.




Construction



            Contrary to  +   NOUN

                                      ¯

            Contrary to   Bill’s statement,   they accepted our proposal.




            Contrary to  +     NOUN  CLAUSE

                                      ¯        ¯         ¯

                                    what   subject   verb

                                      ¯         ¯          ¯

Contrary to       what    Bill      said,    they accepted our proposal.





Contrary to what you might have read in the newspaper, Hillary Clinton has no chance of becoming
the next United States’ president.  The only people who would support her are from the east coast,
or are female professionals, such as myself.  She will never be able to garner enough electoral
college votes to win the presidency.  It’s too bad, since I believe she’d be an excellent
president.




On the contrary


Semantically, this expression serves the same function as contrary to, explained above.


Use it to introduce a contradiction either:


Ø  To what has just been said  - or –

Ø  To a widely held belief / assumption


This expression stands alone, in terms of structure.


Ø  Begin a new sentence after this expression.




Examples:



Al:   You must need a lot of money to live in that part of the country.

Li:   On the contrary.  The cost of living is much lower there than in many other places

       of the country.




Joe:     Apparently English is so hard to learn because the grammar is so difficult.

Sue:     On the contrary.  The grammar is relatively easy.  The vocabulary, especially the phrasal
verbs and idiomatic expressions, are what make English so tough.




________________________________

[1]  Most people refers to most people in the group in question / the contextual group of the
conversation.  Most  people in your family, in your office, in your profession, in your country, in
the world, etc.