In Contrast To/ In Contrast With

Question

I would like to know when is it correct & incorrect to use "In Contrast TO" and "In Contrast WITH" on GMAT and what is the difference between "In Contrast TO" and "In Contrast WITH". Kindly explain WHY the below mentioned sentence are Correct or Incorrect.

IN CONTRAST WITH the zoo, the park charges no admission. 
IN CONTRAST TO the zoo, the park charges no admission. 
In contrast to the zoo charging admission, the park does not.
As contrasted with the zoo, the park charges no admission.

Waiting eagerly for AWESOME explanation by experts.

Regards,
Fame

suyash23n · Answer

Hi. In GMAT, both of them are correct, however it depends on the usage and context.
In fact, i would like to now when to use what out of the to idioms.

petrifiedbutstanding · Answer

I can point a couple of things here. I'm not sure if it will answer you question completely so let me know.

Idiomatically, it is correct to have either usage. The rest of the sentence, that is the bigger picture, is what needs to be looked into more often than not.

Having said that the first two sentences are correct. They're making a comparison between what the zoo does and what the park does about charging admission.

However, statement 3 is comparing charging admission with a park which does not make sense. The rule for a comparison is that the subjects of comparison must ideally be on either side of the comma, which is clearly used in sentences 1 and 2. You can bend this rule slightly if you use a noun cluster before the comma. But sentence 3 has an action which is a verb.

Sentence 4 is just awfully wordy and long and takes an eternity to say what is being said.

aks456 · Answer

"In contrast to" is used with nouns and "contrast with " is used when contrast acts as a verb..
X stands in contrast to Y
He/she contrast X with Y

Experts please correct me if i am wrong...

mikemcgarry · Answer

Fame, I'm happy to help. See this blog ---- https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idioms-of-comparison/ for a full explanation. Here's the skinny ---- IN CONTRAST WITH the zoo, the park charges no admission. IN CONTRAST TO the zoo, the park charges no admission. Both 100% correct. In contrast to the zoo charging admission , the park does not. The problem here is not the comparative idiom but the fundamental grammatical construction. The structure is trainwreck-wrong on the GMAT. If you want to talk about that much action, don't cram it all into a poor little prepositional phrase, which is designed to hold just a static noun, not the full action of a verb. As contrasted with the zoo, the park charges no admission. Avoid the "as contrasted to/with" structure on the GMAT. Mike :-)

fameatop · Answer

Hi Mike,

Thanks & Kudos for the clarification. Can you solve the below mentioned questions because there has been much debate about the OA, but nowhere the explanation is clear.

In Contrast to the symphonies of Haydn, a much freer use of dissonance is evident in the symphonies of Mahler. 
A. In contrast to the symphonies of Haydn, a much freer use of dissonance is evident in the symphonies of Mahler.
B. In contrast with Haydn's symphonies, Mahler uses dissonance much more freely.
C. In Contrast to those of Haydn, the symphonies of Mahler demonstrate a much more free use of dissonance.
D. In contrast to Haydn's symphonies, Mahler's demonstrate a much freer use of dissonance.
E. In contrast with Haydn's symphonies, those of Mahler use dissonance much more freely.

Doubt - In every option 'Declaration' is compared to 'Conference'. Everywhere OA mentioned is A, but I doubt the quality of the question itself. What do u think? 
 In contrast to the declarations made at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties' Kyoto Protocol created legally binding obligations as a result of intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations .
A. In contrast to the declarations made at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties' Kyoto Protocol created legally binding obligations as a result of intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations
B. In contrast to the declarations made at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties had intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations, creating legally binding obligations in their Kyoto Protocol.
C. When compared with the declarations made at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties had intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations creating legally binding obligations in the Kyoto Protocol.
D. Compared with the declarations made at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties had intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations creating legally binding obligations in the Kyoto Protocol.
E. Compared to the declarations made at previous UN climate change conferences, the intensive third Conference of the Parties' negotiations among both developed and developing nations led to the creating of the Kyoto Protocol's legally binding obligations

sidpunjabi · Answer

In Contrast to the symphonies of Haydn, a much freer use of dissonance is evident in the symphonies of Mahler. 
A. In contrast to the symphonies of Haydn, a much freer use of dissonance is evident in the symphonies of Mahler.  - Symphonies of Hydn compared to Freer use. INCORRECT 
B. In contrast with Haydn's symphonies, Mahler uses dissonance much more freely.   - Haydn's symphonies compared to Mahler - INCORRECT 
C. In Contrast to those of Haydn, the symphonies of Mahler demonstrate a much more free use of dissonance.  - Haydn compared to the symphonies of Mahler - INCORRECT 
D. In contrast to Haydn's symphonies, Mahler's demonstrate a much freer use of dissonance. - Haydn's symphonies compared to Mahler's  - SEEMS RIGHT. SHORTLIST 
E. In contrast with Haydn's symphonies, those of Mahler use dissonance much more freely.  - Haydn's symphonies compared to "those of Mahler". Seems ok. But "much more" seems redundant. - INCORRECT

Hence D.

What's the OA?

In contrast to the declarations made at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties' Kyoto Protocol created legally binding obligations as a result of intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations .
A. In contrast to the declarations  made  at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties' Kyoto Protocol  created  legally binding obligations as a result of intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations.  - "Made" and "created". Tense matches and they're parallel. SHORTLIST.

B. In contrast to the declarations  made  at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties  had  intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations,  creating  legally binding obligations in their Kyoto Protocol. 
C. When compared with the declarations  made  at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties  had  intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations  creating  legally binding obligations in the Kyoto Protocol.
D. Compared with the declarations  made  at previous UN climate change conferences, the third Conference of the Parties  had  intensive negotiations among both developed and developing nations  creating  legally binding obligations in the Kyoto Protocol.

B,C and D - ELIMINATED. When talking about events that occurred in the past, "had" is usually used for the event that took place first. Since the statement mentions that the third conference took place afterwards, "had" is incorrect. Also, "made" and "creating" are not parallel.

E. Compared to the declarations made at previous UN climate change conferences, the  intensive  third Conference of the Parties' negotiations among both developed and developing nations  led to the creating  of the Kyoto Protocol's legally binding obligations  - Changes the meaning by stating that the conference was intensive. "Led to the creating" is wrong. Also, very wordy. ELIMINATED

VerbalBot · Answer

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In Contrast To/ In Contrast With

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