Here's a question and a few possible answers: 

Q: The hand was gentle, I washed around the dirt soly and softly.  But the chemicals were a different story.  They were very what?
Possible A: harsh, firm, hatred, rough, hard

Why is "harsh" an answer aligned with human common sense? 


"a different story" tells us that we are looking for the opposite of gentle; harsh is the best option for being the opposite of gentle