Hi All,
English is not my first language but I am used to saying "different from". However, lately I have been running into the expression "Different than". So, is one correct and one incorrect or are both correct but apply to different circumstances and so on?
Thanks all for your answers
Hussein
You hear people say "different than" pretty often, and in Britan "different to."
Strict prescriptivists insist on "different from" because in the verb form we say "X differs from Y" not "X differs than/to Y."
So careful writers use "different from" in all circumstances. There's no difference in meaning between "different from" and "different than/to".
"Different to" (as oppsoed to from) is pretty much uniform usage in Britain these days. Its usage in written English could almost be described as becoming archaic. Indeed it already was back in the 70s when our school teacher told us only "from" was acceptable. And indeed in those days "from" was common, almost universal usage, in all carefully written texts, because everyone else had been told the same at school, even if they never used it in speech, except when they were thinking very carefully about it.
Our teachers tried to tell us that "to" was modern abuse. I researched this recently, and I believe there is no evidence that there ever was a time when "from" was used to the exclusion of "to" in British English. I was reading an Anthony Trollope novel from the 1860s recently, and he used to and from interchangeably. So he didn't feel constrained by what school teachers were teaching, maybe only at a later date.
You do come across "different than" in Britain too. Even the style guides recommend it as a contraction of "to/from what", eg "I did something different than he did."
I'm careful when writing for American colleagues to use 'from' or 'than' as I know they'll pick me up on 'to', which is far more natural for me (a Brit).
To anyone, other than a totally pedantic perfectionist, different 'From' and different 'Than' won't matter one bit.
Stormboy, as long as you're being careful, use "from". "Than" won't seem as weird to Americans as "to" will, but some will have been taught that it's wrong. They probably wouldn't find it as objectionable as they would the punctuation mistakes in #5, for example, but they will mentally mark you down a point or two.
Again, only to a totally pedantic fault finding perfectionist, on a mission of destruction, would it matter.
It's a tiny minority of people (who are also very illiterate at times), who would pick on your smallest mistake.
The only reason they'd do that. is because they're not too clever with words themselves.
Do it either way, it won't matter one little bit. Your English is very good.
Incidentally, what's your first language?
