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Post by Kasia on Mar 24, 2004 10:38:05 GMT -5
Hello, Which preposition can I use after the word "DIFFERENT"? Is it FROM, TO or THAN? Thank you very much for your help  |
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Jacek
New Member
hey
Posts: 46
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Post by Jacek on Mar 24, 2004 10:48:28 GMT -5
check out those examples
The crib is different to how I expected it to be.
Amanda is different from her sister, isn't she?
The weather in ATL is a lot different than in Bielsko.
BYE
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Post by veggie on Mar 24, 2004 17:22:32 GMT -5
more examples from longman dictionary of contemporary english:
different from
Our sons are very different from each other.
different to
Her jacket's different to mine.
different than - American English
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Post by KenWalsh on Mar 25, 2004 0:19:16 GMT -5
I would disagree with the phrase:
The crib is different to how I expected it to be.
I would never hear that usage in America. Instead, replace "to how" with "than", or replace "to" with "from." Off hand, I cannot think of any 'different to' expressions that make sense.
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Post by Kasia on Mar 25, 2004 2:24:11 GMT -5
Thank you everybody for your help. Could I say "The crib is different from what I expected it to be."? Thank you!  |
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Jacek
New Member
hey
Posts: 46
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Post by Jacek on Mar 25, 2004 9:01:58 GMT -5
It seems that "different to how..." is British. It has got to be correct, cause I looked that up in the dictionary and it was there. Never heard that in any sentence in my whole entire life though...... Go figure!
BTW a quite interesting debate has unfolded.
Andre what's your take on this?
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Post by Andrzej on Mar 25, 2004 9:09:58 GMT -5
I have heard "different to" before. It is strictly a British form, so don't expect to hear it from Americans.
Clickandbite, while not wanting to spread itself too thin, specializes in American English, although we do recognize (or recognise) the differences that exist in other types of the English language. This is one of them.
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Post by Kasia on Mar 28, 2004 5:06:37 GMT -5
What do you think about this explanation: "Different from" is the construction that no one will object to. "Different to" is fairly common informally in the U.K., but rare in the U.S. "Different than" is sometimes used to avoid the cumbersome "different from that which", etc. (e.g., "a very different Pamela than I used to leave all company and pleasure for" -- Samuel Richardson). Some U.S. speakers use "different than" exclusively. Some people have insisted on "different from" on the grounds that "from" is required after "to differ". But Fowler points out that there are many other adjectives that do not conform to the construction of their parent verbs (e.g., "accords with", but "according to"; "derogates from", but "derogatory to"). The Collins Cobuild Bank of English shows choice of preposition after "different" to be distributed as follows: "from" "to" "than" ----- ---- ------ U.K. writing 87.6 10.8 1.5 U.K. speech 68.8 27.3 3.9 U.S. writing 92.7 0.3 7.0 U.S. speech 69.3 0.6 30.1 It's from alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxdiffer.html |
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Post by xeo on May 8, 2004 13:24:46 GMT -5
Hi there!
I'd like to add something more as far as "differ" is concerned... preposition 'FROM' is not the only one required after "differ", it's also possible to use "differ with sb (about/on sth)", it also expresses difference but in opinions (mieæ inne zdanie)
example: I'm afraid I differ with you on that matter.
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