Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Lilian Cristina]

Why is whereas the correct world in this sentence and not although

In this first photo, the man looks nervous, whereas / although in the other one the woman looks quite relaxed.

Thanks

Lilian

[bud]

"Although" is a conjunction that signals a contradiction between two ideas, or maybe a mitigating factor:

He was hurt pretty badly, although he is expected to recover completely.
She doesn't like vegetables, although she does eat them from time to time.
She seems pretty brash, although when you get to know her you'll see that she's a very kind person.

Each of those sentences has two opposing ideas.

In your sentence, with no context, I'd choose "whereas" because the two ideas do not appear to oppose each other, or to even be connected in any way. But if the context does connect them (the two pictures), then the two ideas are in opposition, so then "although" would be correct.

I hope that helps.