Grammar
이와 달리
Meaning
Intermediateiwa dalri
Opens a sentence that sets its subject against the one just described — 'unlike this', 'by contrast'. 이 stands for what the previous sentence was about, and 달리 is the adverb of 다르다 ('to be different'), so the sentence says: this next thing behaves differently from that one. What it does not do is take the previous sentence back. Both statements are left standing; they are simply about different subjects, which is why a paragraph comparing two regions, two age groups or two quarters runs on 이와 달리 while a paragraph reversing its own argument reaches for 그러나.
Form
A fixed adverbial phrase made of the pronoun 이, the comparison particle 와, and 달리, the adverbial form of 다르다. It stands at the head of a sentence, takes no particle and no ending, and never changes shape, so the sentence in front of it has to be finished first. The 이 slot can be filled by an ordinary noun instead, which gives the general pattern N와/과 달리 (지난해와 달리, 서울과 달리), and 이와는 달리 adds the topic particle for a little more weight. Because 이 has to refer to something, the phrase cannot open a paragraph.
Examples
지난달에는 비가 거의 없었습니다. 이와 달리 이번 달에는 매주 비가 내렸습니다.
Last month there was almost no rain. In contrast, this month it rained every week.
Common mistakes & nuance
The mistake to avoid is reading it as 'however'. 이와 달리 withdraws nothing; it brings in a second case that behaves differently, and both sentences are still true when the paragraph ends. If the second sentence overturns the first, the word for that is 그러나. It is not a reservation either — a 다만 sentence stays inside the claim it is qualifying, while an 이와 달리 sentence has moved to a different subject altogether. That last point has a practical consequence for reading statistics: the subject changes at 이와 달리, so the figure that follows describes the new subject and is not a revised number for the old one.
Similar grammar
- 그러나
Contrast between things against reversal of a claim. 이와 달리 leaves the previous sentence standing and points at something else that behaves differently; 그러나 says the direction that sentence set no longer holds. The swap changes what the paragraph asserts — 이와 달리 전세는 줄었습니다 adds a second case alongside the first, while 그러나 전세는 줄었습니다 undercuts it.
- -(으)ㄴ/는 반면
The same kind of contrast, one level down. 반면 is a connective inside a single sentence and needs a modifier ending on the clause in front of it (늘어난 반면), so both halves share one sentence and one breath. 이와 달리 sits between two finished sentences, which is what makes it the choice when each side carries its own subject, its own figures and its own attribution.