How to Use ON THE OTHER HAND
Alex Case
“On the other hand” is a very useful phrase based on a colourful metaphor that makes it interesting to picture and easy to understand. It is, however, often overused and misused. This article explains the meaning and use of “on the other hand”, along with typical confusions to avoid.
What does “on the other hand” mean?
The linking expression “On the other hand” is part of a metaphor of using your hands to represent scales weighing up both sides of an argument, in the same way that the scales related to law courts represent weighing up both sides of legal arguments. This weighing up arguments metaphor can be seen with the gestures that sometimes go with “On the one hand, it is doesn’t cost much” (raising one hand to around shoulder-height with the palm up as if that argument was resting on it), “On the other hand, it won’t last very long” (doing the same with the other hand) and “Weighing up both sides of the argument,…” (moving both hands up and down as if you are comparing the weights of two things) and perhaps “The advantages outweigh the disadvantages” (lifting one hand up high to show that it is the side that won).
“On the other hand” therefore means something like or “Turning our attention to the disadvantages” or “Turning from the advantages of Plan A to the advantages of Plan B”. It is also closely related to the similar-sounding “On the other side of the coin”.
Common problems with “on the other hand”
“On the other hand” is a fixed phrase closely based on a normal person’s two hands, so cannot be changed to “On other hand” X (because we use “the” when there is only one option, in this case the remaining hand), “On the other hands” X (because we only have one other hand), “In the other hand” X, etc.
Even native speakers can sometimes mix up when they are switching to the other side of the argument. For example, “On the one hand, the advantages of Plan A are… On the other hand, the disadvantages of Plan B include…” X doesn’t make sense. This is because both arguments are ways of supporting Plan A, and so should be represented by the same hand.
You may hear or read people using “on the other hand” for differences that are not related to weighing up two sides of an argument. However, there are other expressions with those kinds of meanings, and using “on the other hand” for them messes up the “hands as scales” metaphor. It is therefore best to stick to just the fundamental and most common meaning above. As well as seeing if the sentences can go with the gestures, you can also double-check that the sentence is leading towards some kind of conclusion such as picking which is best of two options.
How is “on the other hand” different from other linkers?
“On the other hand” vs “On the other side of the coin”
As mentioned above, these are perhaps the most similar options. However, “on the other side of the coin” is more often used with the meaning of “Looked at from a different point of view”, so they are not quite interchangeable.
“On the other hand” vs “In contrast”
“On the other hand” is most commonly confused with “In contrast”. “In (complete) contrast” is used to show that two things are different, as in “Norway has an incredibly long coastline. In contrast, Luxembourg is completely landlocked”. This usually has nothing to do with weighing up both sides of an argument and doesn’t lead towards a conclusion, so is not the same as “on the other hand”. Although gestures are not so commonly used with “in contrast”, a suitable gesture would be something like stretching your arms as far apart as possible, as if you were trying to show opposites, which is very different to the gestures of “on the other hand”.
“On the other hand” vs “However”
“However” and “but” are very general linking words that can be used with almost any kind of contrast, including both “On the other hand” and “In contrast”. This means that almost any sentence with “On the other hand” could have “However” instead, but most sentences with “However” cannot take “On the other hand”. For example, “I’ve dived many times. However, I’ve never seen what I really want to see, which is a turtle” cannot have “On the other hand” in place of “However”.
