Comments on: Different from, Different to, Different than

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:01:50 +0000

Unfortunately Graham muddies the issue when he suggests that ‘different to’ could possibly be justified if the words ‘when compared’ are inserted – i.e. ‘different when compared to…’. He ignores the old and still logical distinction between ‘compared to’ and ‘compared with’. Shakespeare’s ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ means ‘Shall I say that you are like a summer’s day?’. But if I compare you WITH a summer’s day, all I am doing is looking at you and a summer’s day and considering how those two things are similar and how they are different. Many people now use ‘compared to’ when they mean ‘compared with’.

It’s silly not to preserve this distinction, as it impoverishes our language. When I used to set A-level papers I never asked candidates to ‘compare and contrast’, simply because the last word adds nothing to the question: if you compare, you look at the two things under consideration and you say in what ways they are similar and in what ways they are contrasted.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:14:27 +0000

TO is the preposition of connection (married to, similar to) and FROM is the preposition of separation (divorced from, different from).

Social websites exist to connect us TO others. Bodyguards exist to protect people FROM attack.

By: AnWulf

AnWulf — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:21:48 +0000

From the OED:

usage: Different from, different than, and different to: what are the distinctions between these three constructions, and is one more correct than the others? In practice, different from is both the most common structure and the most accepted.

Different than is used chiefly in North America, although its use is increasing in British English. Because it can be followed by a clause, it is sometimes more concise than different from (compare “things are different than they were a year ago” with “things are different from the way they were a year ago”).

Different to, although common in Britain, is disliked by traditionalists and sounds peculiar to American ears.

By: venqax

venqax — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:35:17 +0000

I think what the article says needs to be re-emphasized: Different to is entirely British. It is not standard or acceptable at all in American, where different than is the problem and different from is the solution. Different to doesn't even make sense, and I don't recall ever hearing it in the US. It sounds very "wrong" over here, akin to a mistake a non-native speaker would make.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:39:23 +0000

I’ll stick with “different to”, thanks. “Different from” sounds cumbersome, and if something can be similar to something else, then it can also be different to something else.

As for the example, “Britain is trying to sell a different message to the Americans”, I could as easily say, “Britain is trying to sell a similar message to the Americans” and have exactly the same ambiguity you’re trying to demonstrate.