Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 454. .
The title of today's lesson is the difference between
on the contrary, in contrast and contrary to popular belief. Yeah.
There's a student that asked me to do this one
and I could understand why. Because you know for especially of an
ESL (student) it could be confusing between these
three terms, but actually I think there are some very
clear differences between these three that's easy to
distinguish. Okay. Anyway, let's take a look at the
board here. Let me step back for a second. Okay. Let's,
let's get into it right now. We use in contrast
simply to compare two different ... it could be two different ideas,
two different viewpoints or opinions, things etc. It does not suggest one
is right or one is wrong , it simply is used to show the difference. So
in contrast this one and in contrast to that one.
You're just clearly saying that there are differences between
the two. And again there's no right or wrong
or better or worse. All right. Let's continue.
On the contrary is used to show that the writer
or the speaker... you know, from their point of view
believes that what he is pointing out a stated fact, opinion etc.
is not exactly correct and will usually go on to explain
why , why he thinks this or what he believes
is correct. So that's how we use on the contrary.
All right. Contrary to popular belief is similar to
on the contrary. Meaning that you know, you are
saying what somebody else says is wrong. However, except that one is emphasizing
that one that what many or most people believe
is right or correct is in fact not. So with... if you say on contrary to
popular belief you're acknowledging that a large
percentage of people or maybe even most people believe this , but
you know, from your facts or evidence or whatever proof that you looked at
you think that they.... it's not right. And there could be a number of reasons
why. Usually there is some good reason why
it's become the popular belief. Usually because a lot of people have
been told this and they just trusted the sources that told them and
didn't really check anything on their own.
So that's why very often it is. But again you know, this is the opinion of the
speaker so you really have to look at both sides. You may have to do your own
research to find out really which one is correct.
Let's continue here. All right. So let's give some examples.
Here's the first one. The Thai fruit, durian is considered to be a fruit that
is a delicious delicacy. While in contrast
others consider it.... meaning other people. Others consider it to be
an ugly , putrid , smelly fruit that should be
avoided. Now in the first one of course where
we use in contrast. We're not really judging. We're just saying some people
think this or believe this will feel this way. And
some others believe or think or feel the other way.
We're not saying one is right or one is wrong or better
or worse. Let's continue. All right. Now with the
the second example here. We're using the same idea so you can kind of clearly see
the difference between the two. Some people think durian is one of the
worst smelling disgusting types of fruit on earth. They couldn't be more
wrong. So here you're actually saying that you
think they are wrong. On the contrary, it is a savory delicacy
loved by millions that is very nutritious. You know , and it's even
healthy for you and it's delicious. So from this person's point of view , he's
saying that the other ones are wrong. So then we would say on the
contrary, so from you as a speaker or the writer
that's what you're saying. You're saying that this other person or this other
group is wrong. Okay. Now
time to give you an example of you know, contrary to popular belief.
Many people believe the polar bear is a critically
endangered animal that is close to extinction. You know , they're almost
going to disappear from the earth. Contrary to popular belief. Because a lot
of people believe this. We've been told this a lot
especially with the global warming movement the polar bears become a
symbol of it. So it's kind of pushed on us all the time.
So this is why a lot of people actually do believe this.
Many sources claim their population is the highest it has been
in over 50 years and it has increased at least 30 percent just since 2005. And
that's when a lot of the global warming movement was even pushing about the polar bear.
It's just going up and up and up. And I've looked at... I've seen stories of
this over the past decade or even more than the past decade
and every time I see that they actually in fact
did another count of the polar bears, it has actually increased. It's never
actually gone down and they're much higher than they've
been decades ago. So the statement
that they're close to extinction of the belief
that's definitely not correct. Now many people
who are you know, strong uh believers in global warming will probably tell you
well projected in the future , they're still going to go
down. Well that may be where time will tell.
We'll see about that , but so far that hasn't come to pass. That hasn't
come to be true so far. And the fact that they are they're
definitely not near extinction. In fact in some areas. They've ... they're
populated so much that you know they've been
visiting Inuit towns too because they're you know, there's just too many of them.
Basically now maybe, some people could argue you
know somewhere in the world the some polar bear a population may
have fallen a little I don't know. But the overall worldwide
population of polars is definitely up and
it's thriving. It's up by a lot. So this is the sort of situation where we
will say contrary to popular belief. Because many people believe it. Many
people have been you know, this idea has been pushed or expressed on many people.
They didn't realize , they just trusted the sources that told them and didn't
actually check. Okay. Anyway you know, you could
check for yourself and decide yourself because actually this is really just the
opinion of the people that are speaking . Now like I said they
may have done there they may have done their homework and
they may have done their research too. So now I hope you can clearly see the
difference between, you know , when we use in contrast. You
know just for comparisons. On the contrary you're saying somebody's
wrong and contrary to popular belief you're saying somebody's wrong and
you're admitting that most people believe this way,
but you don't think, they are right. Okay. Anyway,
again, I hope you got it. I hope it is clear. I hope it was very informative.
Thank you for your time. Bye- bye.