Mastering Comparison and Contrast: Key Skills for English Conversations | Complete English Course

hello and welcome to another lesson today we are going to start with comparison and contrast this is part of the listening and reading comprehension section of the course good luck so some definitions to get into today comparison is the process of identifying the similarities between two things persons or ideas or in our case in terms of listening and reading comprehension texts speeches videos movies TV shows books novels any of those things you can compare you can find some that is similar between these two things contrast is the process of identifying the differences between the two things persons or ideas or the multiple types of media I suggested before now what is necessary in order to compare and to contrast are two things to compare and contrast now you may find those two things within the same speech or in the same text that is totally fine but the idea is you are comparing something to something else let's take a look at some different contrasts between fiction and non-fiction we've been over a lot of non-fiction here recently and we did a lot of fiction before so the purpose of non-fiction if you haven't caught in by caught up by now the purpose of non-fiction is to educate or inform it uses facts real events sources and research as evidence to support its argument or thesis remember non-fiction has a main idea a claim something that it is supporting and the whole goal of that non-fiction is to support that claim the lesson is learned explicitly and implicitly and usually that lesson is to educate or inform right but now fiction is different fiction is more fun right the purpose is to entertain after all it uses characters creative settings narrators and all of this can be based on a true event but the plot line the story is the one that's meant to be fiction not true made up it's or twisted or exaggerated to help entertain historical fiction is a good example of something that starts with a non-fiction idea a real event in history or a real person who lived and then they tell like a fun entertaining story about them maybe based on those real events but it's twisted or exaggerated or new characters are added or something to make it more suitable to the TV screen or a movie screen or a book creative writing is used in fiction to create this whole world to step into it's all about storytelling and a lesson can be learned implicitly it's possible to have lessons in fiction but remember that fiction is intended for the readers to understand different things the beauty of fiction is whenever you read something like a short story every reader can interpret that story differently they can walk away from that story with a different understanding of what it means that is when a fiction story has been written well it's very important to note that non-fiction does not want this non-fiction does not want the readers to arrive at different ideas of what was meant the goal of non-fiction is to guide all the readers from their different backgrounds and understandings to the same points to the same understanding because that's efficient however fiction loves to multiply different ideas and if it's fitting for a story they will end on a cliffhanger where there is no resolution no ending to the plot and everybody gets to decide as in the Lady or the Tiger which door did he open what was behind that door which door did the princess send the man to the Lady or the Tiger these ideas are the purpose of fiction that's how it's different than non-fiction and that's why it's more entertaining as well it's not that you don't use storytelling for nonfiction we see in terms of pathos that stories are very very helpful to communicating your non-fiction point but those stories are used and wielded for a specific idea to get your audience to feel the same idea whereas in fiction a story is told not to make you feel the same thing but to just give you something to let you walk on in life and consider it a different thing maybe maybe you take it completely differently than someone else like life of piie for example the book or the movie everyone interpret something differently from that movie well that's the point the point is not for us all to have the same intellectual scientific understanding of the Life of Pi if it did it wouldn't be a fun story it wouldn't be a fiction story it wouldn't be something fun to discuss necessarily so let's move on you can compare and or contr almost anything so in terms of fiction you can compare or contrast the settings characters authors plotline parts of plot details narrators any of the elements of fiction between two different stories you can do anything like that H whether you take the life of The Secret Life of Walter midy short story and compare it to the secret life of Walter midy movies there have been multiple movies made from the same story idea concept you can compare and contrast all of those things because of all all of those elements of fiction have been manipulated every time the story is retold again because the point of fiction is to entertain and different Generations are entertained by different ideas so we are not purely modernists anymore the modernist movement is alive and well but not to the degree that it was when the story was first published so we can have a whole paper we can do a whole thesis probably on the differences between the different versions of the secret of Walter midi as it is told the same with non-fiction you can compare and contrast almost anything in terms of the facts figures the rhetorical devices the ethos of the speaker or the author demonstrations pictures used props used anything that is used in these in these research papers in these speeches or in these textbooks whatever is written you can compare them to one another in a speech you can compare two different Speakers by their body language their stance their facial ex the language used the tone of voice stress all of that par language you can compare and contrast between speakers maybe that's why you prefer listening to one speaker over another if you're listening to podcasts it will often come down to maybe not all of um maybe not all of peril language but to the way they use their voice whether they're Pleasant to listen to whether they change their voice a lot to make it interesting so that they don't have to be standing there you don't have to see their face and body language almost like their voice moves you you can almost see them by the way they use their voice these types of listeners are awesome to listen to and that's one way that I would compare them to some other listeners or speakers that I know themes main ideas thesis support evidence reasoning connections you can make debate between non-fiction information or by fiction information you can create a whole debate based off of comparison and contrast whatever it is make sure that you do identify these individual elements of fiction and non-fiction that we've gone over in the course right all of these things we've walked through before you know or you should know all of the things that are here on this screen if you don't know them you need to go back and review a little bit but all of these things have been discussed throughout the course and you should be able to now compare and contrast them and I hope so because we are about to do so today compare and contrast the two sources that I give you at a time I'm going to only have you compare and contrast two sources at a time it is possible to take three or four or more and compare and contrast but for the sake of Simplicity and for the sake of this course we are going to take three instances of comparison and contrasts first we're going to look at President Lincoln and the way he is viewed in non-fiction so I've got two sources for you go ahead and watch this video first from the History Channel and then we are going to have you read a text from an American textbook get started the essential thing to remember about Abraham Lincoln was that there was nothing in his background that predicted that he was going to be president of the United States and in fact if Lincoln had not been elected in 1860 almost no one ever would have heard of him he was an accomplished lawyer and he had made a name for himself as an anti-slavery orator in the late 1850s but even at his election no one expected great things of Abraham Lincoln he was a man who became president at maybe the worst moment in our country's history at the beginning of the war and the beginning of his running linol did not Advocate black equality Lincoln's principal objective was to save the union and then we'll deal with slavery but before too long he had to both save the union and deal with slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation here was a man who very reluctantly was sort of taking on the issue of slavery he he really did not want to I mean if you read any literature he never really wanted to embrace the slavery issue it wasn't his issue and yet he sort of over a couple conversations with Frederick Douglas and really over time came around to embracing that issue okay so very inspirational view of Abraham Lincoln right and you see some of the struggles he was facing and the background that he came from all of that is discussed in the short clip that I've given you now this is a documentary this is what we call is a genre of documentary non-fiction what is different between that and this section right here go ahead and pause read this yourself and then I'm going to read it aloud and we'll move on to answering uh the questions of comparison and contrast okay if you did not pause I strongly suggest you do but if you have well well done here we go Lincoln had insisted that the purpose of the conflict was to restore the union and that he did not have the authority to free the slaves yet the expanding War forced the issue fugitive slaves had begun to turn up in Union Army Camps and Generals did not know whether to declare them free some generals put the contrabands to work building fortifications others liberated those slaves who had been held by Confederate owners thus running the risk of upsetting border state slaveholders Lincoln himself edged toward emancipation the expanding War forced the issue as the war continued EV Lincoln eventually concluded that emancipation was required for several reasons slave labor was bolstering the Confederate cause sagging morale in the north needed the Boost of a Transcendent moral IDE deal and public opinion was swinging that way proclaiming a war on slavery moreover would end forever any chance that France or Britain would support the Confederacy this is from a section called emancipation in a chapter or chapter 17 of a textbook called America a narrative history by tendall I'm sure this is obviously non-fiction right I mean it's very high language much higher language language is not intended for grade school kids necessarily it is using words like emancipation and bolstering and boost Transcendent moral ideal these things are non-fiction traits but notice we're talking about the same thing here we're talking about Lincoln's view of slavery at the beginning of the American Civil War now a lot of times today people will simplify everything and they'll say that the Americans Civil War was over the issue of slavery wasn't the case at the beginning though let's see both are non-fiction very obviously but both assert that the goal of the war in the beginning was to preserve the union now the union is what we called the American States before we had the 50 states the United States of America uni uni that come from the same roote meaning together standing together United so to preserve the union the north was considered the union and the South was considered the Confederacy they were the ones that left when Abraham Lincoln was elected president so a war was inspired in 1861 through 1865 over these issues there were a lot of issues at the time many things dividing the nation at the time so the war was not primarily fought because of slavery but slavery became the issue that they started to fight about in the end of 1862 so Lincoln was forced to deal with the slavery issue because these slaves kept hearing about the union being nicer kinder to the slaves being willing to free them but that wasn't necessarily the case the union the American North was also divided on the issue of slavery some were for of it some were against it it took some time before they were able to Rally behind that Al together and this Emancipation Proclamation was one of the speeches that inspired that Unity so before the first part of the war the north didn't have something to really fight about and Lincoln tried really hard to make it all about preserving the union but the issue of slavery kept coming up somebody had to do something so Lincoln didn't want to deal with slavery himself but eventually he came to believing in it uh and believing and stopping it and that is why he is remembered for that to this day Lincoln concluded that it needed to be dealt with that is the main idea thrust of both pieces of non-fiction I gave you today now what's different the video mentions the personal interviews that helped change Lincoln's mind like his talks with Frederick Douglas for example he was a freed slave a very intelligent man a very famous man for the things he wrote a textbook describes the specific reasons why dealing with slavery was advantageous for war strategy so remember it listed let's see if we come back here it listed in the second paragraph the different things the several reasons why dealing with it was actually a good idea one it would dissuade Britain or France who had already abolished slavery it would make them not want to Rally behind a slave owning country like the South the Confederacy so very interesting it gives the north a unified ideal to fight behind and many things so by war strategy it was a really good idea now the text book also mentions the difficulty Union Generals were having with no formal stance on slavery so the slaves would former slaves would come to them and say let us help or set us free or whatever and some of the generals would put them to work as slaves and then others would let them go free they didn't know so until Lincoln made this Proclamation it was I mean people didn't know what to do they didn't know what to do with these slaves that were coming to them the video mentions how Lincoln is remembered today for emancipating slavery but it's not mentioned just yet in the textbook section that I gave you so these are some similarities and differences let's look at two fiction stories now one of these this one right here you read earlier in the course so let's get jump back into reacquainting ourselves with this part of the story story he strained his ears his Restless brain for a moment stilled not a stir nothing he alone took breath in the midst of the great silence it was very lonely hark what was that a chill passed over his body The Familiar long drawn howl broke the void and it was close at hand then on his darkened eyes was projected the vision of the Moose the old Bull Moose the torn flanks and bloody sides the riddled Bane and the great branching horns down low and tossing to the last he saw the flashing forms of gray the gleaming eyes the lulling tongues the slathering fangs and he saw the inexurable circle Clos in till it became a dark point in the midst of the stamped snow a cold muzzle thrust against his cheek and at its touch his soul leaped back to the present his hand shot Into the Fire and dragged out a burning overcome for the nounce by his hereditary fear of man The Brute retreated raising a prolonged call to his brothers and greedy they answered till a ring of crouching jaw slobbered gray was stretched about the old man listened to the drawing in of the circle he waved his brand wildly and sniffs turned to snarls but the panting brutes refused to scatter now one warmed his chest forward dragging his hunches after now a second now a third but never one Drew back why would he cling to life he asked and dropped the Blazing snake into the snow it sizzled and went out the circle grunted uneasily but held its own again he saw the Last Stand of the old bull moose and Kus dropped his head wearily upon his knees what did it matter after all was it not the law of life and the chilling end to that story it really sticks with you but remember old Kush was blind by the time of his being left by his tribe and he was left by the tribe uh because he was elderly and he would just weigh them down they needed to be fast in order to keep up with food so tradition was to leave the elderly to die on their own well he was left and as he's thinking throughout the story he goes back to Visions as he gets colder and colder well instead of the cold killing him he's killed by these wolves now let's compare that to another of Jack London's stories which we have not been over before this is the end of it freezing was not so bad as people thought there were lots worse ways to die he pictured the boys finding his body the next day suddenly he found himself with them coming along the trail and looking for himself and still with them he came around a turn in the trail and found himself lying in the snow he did not belong with himself anymore for even then he was out of himself standing with the boys and looking at himself in the snow it certainly was cold was his thought when he got back to the states he could tell the folks what real cold was he drifted on from this Vision to a vision of the the old timer on sulfur Creek he could see him quite clearly warm and comfortable and smoking a pipe you were right old hos you were right the man mumbled to the Oldtimer of silfur Creek then the man drowsed off into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known the dog sat facing him and waiting the brief day Drew to a close in a long slow Twilight there were no signs of a fire made to be made and besides never in the dog's experience had it known a man to sit like that in the snow and make no fire as the Twilight Drew on and its eager yearning for the fire mastered it and with a great lifting and shifting of four feet it whed softly and flattened its ears down in anticipation of being chid by the man but the man remained silent later the dog whined loudly and still later it crept close to the man and caught the scent of death this made the animal bristle and back away a little longer it delayed howling Under the Stars that leaped and danced and Shone brightly in the cold Sky then it turned and trotted up the trail in the direction of the camp it knew where were the other food providers and fire providers another powerful one this one too a man dies and he dies in the same type of freezing cold but for different reasons right different reasons than old Koso died and here there is still a dog present but for for a different reason and his reaction is different as well and notice too that there is a perspective shift here when the man does die first we're in the mind of the man and then when he does die it shifts to the perspective of the dog let's go look at some more both are fiction both by the same author Jack London there's a similar setting it's in the cold the far north very very very cold it's a man alone in the cold right both characters are men alone in the cold there's a dog present at least one both drift to Visions the old man cou he's thinking of a bull moose that he saw were taken down by wolves in his in his youth he's thinking about that and in the case of the man he's with the men who find him the next day and then he drifts back to a guy who earlier on the story warned him not to go out in such cold and he just tells him you know you were right and then he just goes to sleep each man gives up and dies now the difference is here is that the old man is versus a young man the dogs attack the old man versus the old the dog waits for the young man the old man dies to dogs right the Wolves Circle in and get together and get closer and closer and closer and until he gives up and drops his head on his knees and what we assume what we predict happens next is the wolves kill him the man the young man though he just falls asleep kind of like The Little Match Girl right she dreams has a vision of her grandmother coming for her and then she goes up to heaven with her grandmother but that's when she dies and then an uncomfortable horrible death versus a comfortable sleep where he just falls asleep in the best sleep he has ever had right which is death so there's a lot of things going on but notice of all the similarities and the extreme circumstances both men find thems eles in these are both from the naturalist movement remember this was an event or OT um short term movement in American literature history where they believed that mankind could be predicted by scientific experiment in literary culture that you could put these characters in experimental conditions and just let it play out that man doesn't have real feelings really that at least those feelings don't impact their circumstances and etc etc for those reasons because mankind is complex naturalism died pretty quick but these two stories are haunting reminders of naturalism and they just stick in your mind when you read them very well written stories okay our last example today that we are going to compare and contrast I've got two recipe videos for you and there's a lot of differences so pay attention and answer the questions [Music] we live in a day and age of rapidly Rising food prices it's something that affects basically everyone in fact it seems like all around the world that's a problem right now that certainly was a problem in the 18th and 19th century also so how did they deal with it and what was going on in the 18th and 19th century well in Great Britain during that time period they had several different kinds of crop failures and other economic upheaval basically the same thing happening in the 18th century and in the early 19th century is basically happening today a lot of lot of similar kinds of situations and rapidly Rising food prices who do they hit the worst the Working Families right that's the people who are always on the edge and food is a major part of the budget and today um actually it's much easier iier than it was in the 18th century in the 18th century the food budget is a percentage of the amount of money they had to spend which was much higher so maybe half their money or more was spent on food and when food prices go up it's very very difficult so there are some things that they could do um and there are people that were thinking about it working on that problem in the 18th century primitive cookery doesn't really have a particular author here that we know of it's really a collection of recipes that for the most part are vegetarian because the author here knows that meat in that time period is very expensive so what what other kinds of recipes can we have so he's collected a lot of current recipes put them together in this cookbook also in the back there's a menu or a bill of fair of 70 dishes that cost less than 2 p per serving so in today's maybe $2 or $3 um a very very inexpensive meal and some of them are interesting some of them are kind of funny uh you know bread and butter and a glass of water make a good meal well okay it can if you're a very poor person maybe that's just exactly what you can afford and so some of these might seem very very simple um but very obvious and very good and we've just touched on that idea of a pretty Winter's U meal in the uh in the Benjamin Franklin Series where he talks about beer and bread and cheese that's breakfast right so some of these are very very simple you know boiling eggs or you know having them on toast I thought this one in the back though quite quite interesting and one that we would we would cook today and it's there are several different dumplings in here and dumplings in this time period could be um sort of like a boil pudding where you put a batter into a bag and you boil it or you can just drop these things right into the water and that's what we're going to be making today there's it says dumplings boiled with flour milk and water only with a little ginger and yeast when it is boiled you butter it and it is an excellent food isn't that interesting that um if we don't have meat and we don't even have bread maybe all we all we have here is a little bit of flour and we want to spice that up just flour is really boring and so what do we put in here we put ginger in ginger one of the least expensive spices in the time period and would also show up in things like pancakes so it isn't odd that this kind of spice would show up in this particular thing but these are also suggestions I I think today when we look at uh uh cookbooks we we don't think about the recipe as a suggestion saying well you could do this and or change it up you know do change this specifically and in this case I'm sure that maybe uh you wouldn't need if you didn't have ginger but you had something else you wanted to make it spicy well you could you could use cayenne pepper you could use just plain pepper some other things to make it something more than just intensely Bland so we're going to make these very very simple dumplings and they're talked about in many different kinds of cookbooks usually usually they're cooked in with something else but in this case they're done all by themselves so we've got some flour um probably about a cup and a half we're going to add a little bit of salt salt isn't mentioned directly in this recipe but we want a little bit of savory in these so we're going to add a little bit of salt and now we're going to add the flavor and the flavor resides Just In This Ginger and I'm going to use a a good little bit of Ginger here if your Ginger is old and uh has taken a while to get to you especially in the 18th century it might have taken a long way to get to you um it might be a little weak so we're going to use a nice little bit of Ginger and then this also has yeast in it some of these dumplings didn't have yeast they would be hard dumplings um and that's good they're fun they almost have a meaty flavor to them or a consistency they're so sort of tough to cut into uh they wanted this one to be a little bit fluffier so we're going to add a little bit of yeast yeast in the time period would have been a liquid yeast that came from the Brewer um that's also probably going to bring some flavor into it from the 18th century it's going to have a little bit of hops it's going to have a little bit of bitter to it our yeast doesn't have anything like that that's why we have so much ginger in here we're going to mix these up with a little bit more water depending on how much water came in with our yeast and I'm going to let set these beside the fire for just a few minutes a half hour just to give that yeast time to wake up perk up a little bit uh it might rise a tiny bit I don't expect it to uh but when it goes into the boiling water it will start to spring up a little [Music] bit there we go it's our meal for two pence wonderful dump Lings with a spicy ginger flavor got our butter melting in here there's one of our dumplings these um depending on how hot the water boils or you know how how hard the water is boiling um they may take a little bit longer or less uh I don't I don't like to have the water boiling too much when you put these in or it breaks them apart um so you kind of put it in before the water boils and then you kind of let them half cook and then the water boils a little bit even though I put a good amount of ginger in there it's just sitting there as a flavor it isn't overwhelming at all that definitely needed the salt and of course the butter pushes it right up over the top hopefully you've got butter to put in your dumplings but they are so massively inexpensive really I mean um you can see how this could be part of a larger meal and it could be be just you know if you were boiling meat you would toss these in at the same time if you couldn't afford the meat this is what you had you might even if you were really that hard up you'd save that water that you boiled these in there's still a little bit of that um flour in that water and it it serves as possibly a very very inexpensive morning drink if you didn't want to throw anything out and in some cases that's exactly what's happening so it's been a generation since we've seen these rapidly increasing food prices um but we've seen it before haven't we maybe hundred years ago and we certainly see it in the beginning of the 19th century 1800s we see it in the 1700s food prices going up and of course all this hardship but we know we study history and you know you've heard you study history so you you don't repeat it we're you know you don't want to be doed to repeat it but we also study history so that we know what people went through and what they lived through we're here because they lived through those difficult times sometimes those difficult times helped them as time moved forward sometimes you have to have difficult times so you know what the good times are like so yeah we really need to study history we really need to look back into cookbooks 250 years old that tell us what people were EA eating at that time okay so what do you think what recipe is being made specifically boiled dumplings what seasonings can replace the ginger cayenne pepper or honestly really just any seasoning the speaker is making his own contrast he is contrasting lowbudget food 250 years ago in the economic crisis then to now right now the high inflation all around the world is causing people to look for cheaper recipes look for cheaper food and need to rely on them right well that's part of what this recipe is being aired for being made for is to show how did people eat 250 years ago when they didn't have money life then versus now there's a lot of comparison and contrast but what's really really cool about this right here this is a modern man working and living in a situation that was built to replicate what was back then so he cooks like they did he uses their cookbooks he uses their resources that's really really cool so very very educational and really interesting idea now let's compare that to this one go ahead and watch it so these aren't generally considered expensive but hear me out you're paying $6 to $8 for how many four 6 100 you never really know when you could have the greatest of all time for this price right here that's but cheaper [Music] okay so today we're making dumplings but not just any dumplings completely homemade dumplings for this price I know we already said it but I just have to reiterate this this is ridiculous why would you not want this this is like what you pay for like really crappy Frozen ones that you it says you got to do it with the steam basket and everything but in reality you just pop it in the microwave and like the outside's still like Frozen and the inside's piping hot you're like what have I done is that what you want no that doesn't sound good you're going to make three cooking methods pan fried deemed and a lacy skirt dumpling you don't know what that is you never put a little skirt on you a little dance let's let's just make this let's just stop talking and make this okay let's have a silly little discussion of fresh dumpling dough versus store bot one package of circular dumpling wrappers cost around $2.50 that seems good but let's make our own first you'll need a large bowl add in 1 and 1/2 cups or 225 g of all-purpose flour half a cup or 75 G of bread flour mix to combine then separately get 2/3 of a cup or 147 g of hot water and when I say hot I mean hot hot good low dissolve half a teaspoon or 2 G of kosher salt into that water then pour that into your flour mixture and begin mixing until you get a Shaggy dough then knad that thing for about 5 to 7 minutes or until you get a beautifully smooth and supple dough wrap that with plastic wrap give it a wholesome and kind-hearted personality and rest for 15 to 20 minutes from there you'll divided into four to six pieces and using a Posta roller or a rolling pin roll it into a very thin sheet you know on a Posta roller you'll obviously need to roll it starting from the thickest setting and Landing somewhere around number five or six and by the way you know thin is not barely thinner than a 2x4 you want to be able to see your God dang hand through this dough once you have your sheet get a 3 to 4in biscuit cutter depending on how big you want these and cut out circles that's it repeat that with all of your dough now that puts you at this price for homemade dumpling dough that makes a similar amount of one package of store which is around 50 rappers total I will say that it is significantly more annoying to make these without the pasta roller and well pasta rollers cost money so it's going to be up to you to decide what to do here now you can't call it a wrapper unless you got something to fill it with filling is undeniably easy so no complaining to Papa get yourself a medium bowl and add 1 lb or 450 G of ground pork to that you'll add three cabbage leaves finally chopped and by the way quick method of fine chopping cabbage remove their cores I very finely slice this into ribbons then turn that the other way around and cut Against the Grain to get a very very fine chop now optionally you can give it a few more passes with a knife to get it even finer then add that to your pork along with a 1-in knob of Ginger fresh grated three cloves of very finely chopped garlic three green onions very thinly sliced half a teaspoon or 3 g of sugar 1/4 teaspoon or 2 G of fine sea salt yes this looks like more because uh I got a little bu wild here on the salt 1 tbsp or 14 G of soy sauce 1 teaspoon or 4 G of optional sesame oil then using your hands give it a nice mix kneading for about 2 minutes or until everything is thoroughly Incorporated and homogenized that's it that's the filling now before we fill our little baby dumpers we're going to make our dipping sauce in a small bowl add 1/4 cup or 60 mL of white vinegar and 1/4 cup or 60 mL of soy sauce mix that together and that's actually it somehow this perfectly balanced mix of tarte and Umami saltiness is what makes up that classic liquid that you dunk your dumpers into that lead directly to a good oldfashioned bus feel free to add a tiny splash of toasted sesame oil or chili oil I did both but neither are necessary and it's perfectly delicious without it so we're not counting that towards the total although if we did it would be this much all right we're ready to fill get yourself a row of dumpling wrappers and feel like so first add a heaping teaspoon of meat into the center brush the perimeter of a wrapper lightly with water then to shape first close it like a taco pinching the top of the taco together and starting with one side crimp one part of the dough towards that Center pinch to keep it folded then working way to the edge crimp a second one over that and then the third and now you've crimped one side then crimp the other side Bing Bang Boom make sure there's no ear Bubbles and all the seams are sealed and that's it look it will take some practice to get right it's okay if it's not perfect there's no reason to feel embarrassed no matter how terrible pathetic or ugly it could possibly be look I'm joking wrapping dumplings is like life before your very eyes You observe what looks like such a long stretch of road you may be unsure how long it will take to get to the other side or if you will at all for that matter but working through each of these things one by one one foot after the other and sooner than you know it you've made it to the other side dumplings like life anyway once you've repeated that with all of your dumplings you're ready to cook these bad boys I got three cooking methods for you pan fried steamed and a lacy little skirt obviously the easiest version is steamed get a steamer basket place it over a simmering shallow pot of water okay yeah Joshua wisman is a little different right completely different audience in mind though both from the same country right both of them are aiming toward Americans but Joshua weisman's audience is definitely a lot younger the people he are he is targeting are young adults no no older than Millennials for sure probably more like Gen Y or gen Z Now the type of boiled dumplings that Josh is making are Chinese dumplings he's doing three different varieties of Chinese dumplings a classic cabbage dumpling recipe um but it's really good and all really tasty but it's different right it still has a lowbudget in mind so as we compare and contrast the two videos one is a dumpling or both of them are dumpling recipes on a budget but and they're both informative and both address an American audience however the differences are way more this time there's different types of dumplings originating from different places it's a different type of poverty too have you noticed Joshua weisman's audience can still afford luxuries like sauces from abroad whereas John's audience this is from way back when this is an educational thing to show like what if you only had flower and salt what could you do this is what people ate at the time so very interesting differences here um John's recipe is very very simple because he's pulling it from a budget cookbook from 250 years ago whereas Joshua's is very complex still cheap but very complex all the same there's education versus entertaining historical versus entertainment um targeting different age groups as we've already discussed one is about a historical budget cooking versus a tasty modern budget cook recipe and then filming is very very different Joshua wisman plays a fool a lot of time he's really goofy he has very professional technique when he cooks but then he has his weird personality and he makes a lot of jokes and does a lot of film things that are really weird whereas John is very to Earth he's very to the point and he's very appreciative of history and reflective of modern times and a very softspoken person so you have two different personalities doing two different videos on a similar topic very very fascinating remember that when comparing and contrasting two different Works remember that it's valuable it's a valuable way to approach comprehension if you can't understand something try to approach it by comparing and contrasting because by comparison and contrast you will break things down into their elements you'll be able to break down and see whether something is fiction or non-fiction you'll be able to break it down and see how it works and by doing so you will arrive at an idea of comprehension that you did not reach before part of being able to comprehend is being able and flexible to vary your strategy so if your mind is just not working one day you can you can approach by comparison and contrast we do it all the time as human beings thus this should be a simpler way to comprehend something comparison and contrast are useful comprehension skills besides for standardized tests this is used all the time at standardized tests practice approaching comprehension from different angles maybe you'll contrast or look for differences first maybe sometimes you look for the similarities first maybe you'll try to find one thing that's in common between two completely different things at any rate whatever you find that is worth considering next we're going to get into observation other things that you really should observe in order to be able to comprehend something I'm going to give you lots of tips advice and practice in this next lesson so I will see you there