GRAMMAR

[recordman]

Latin buffs.Which is correct 'different to' or 'different from'?

[mike11111]

Different from is strictly speaking the corrret form, although different to is in very common usage.

[recordman]

Thank you

[MarkRae]

> Different from is strictly speaking the correct form, although different to is in very common usage

Indeed. And our American cousins tend to favour "different than"...

[Quizmonster]

Here is the opening sentence from Fowler's Modern English Usage on 'different'...
"The commonly expressed view that 'different' should only be followed by 'from' and never by 'to' or 'than' is not supportable in the face of past and present evidence or of logic."
It goes on to say that all three have been in use since the 1500s. The case people make against 'different to' is the fact that we do not use the phrase 'to differ to' but invariably 'to differ from' and so we should say ‘different from'. Fowler's counters that by pointing out that - in that case - we should say 'according with' because we do say 'to accord with' but we invariably say ‘according to'!
So, there you go...it seems to be a case of 'take your pick'. I have to say that I personally would always use 'different from', but that's probably just a matter of age. The point is that the horse's mouth - Fowler's - makes it clear that it is not compulsory to use ‘from'. End of story.

[stewey]

I have to agree with Mark on this. Americans and Canadians use "different than"; I don't think I've ever heard the other versions used. I'm not saying it's the "correct" way, just that it's commonly used.

[dr b]

Not to cause a cross-border kerfuffle, stewey, but "different from" is pretty common south of the border, and what I would probably use most of the time. A quick search of my local paper's website (searching on local stories only, so I was not picking up wire service reports) found 44 uses of "different than" and 47 of "different from."

[stewey]

Ok, dr b. It appears I was generalizing too much: that's interesting what you found. Where in the States are you?

[dr b]

I'm in the Midwest (St. Louis MO to be precise).

[stewey]

Yes, I remember you responded to my heat-wave post yesterday: it's the same today!

[DaisyNonna]

I was taught different from, I taught my children different from, I am teaching my grandchildren different from, Any questions?

[Buenchico]

For anyone who might find it useful, 'The Times' publishes the 'style guide' which it expects its journalists to conform to. It's a great source of information for questions like this one:
http://www.timesonlin...ide/article986722.ece

Chris

[mike11111]

You've ended a sentence with a preposition! This is something up with which we will not put!

[boxtops]

LOL @ Mike, indeed!

[chakka35]

Pace Fowler, 'different to' is linguistically illogical. 'Different' denotes a partition, a separation, a moving away. 'To' denotes an approach, a coming-together. So 'different to' is an oxymoron.

Does 'different' to' mean the same as 'similar from'? if so, what does that mean?

'Different to' makes no sense; 'different than' makes some sense; 'different from' makes absolute sense.

[mike11111]

Agreed. The Latin prefix 'di' denotes 'from'.

[tearinghair]

That's a fascinating article, Buenchico. I love the comment about dashes, with which I fully agree. I do use them myself, but I think they are over-used>

[tearinghair]

...and the punctuation at the end was a mis-typing, sorry!

[Quizmonster]

So, what would you do with DISsimilar, Chakka? I would certainly say, "The taste of Islay malts is dissimilar to that of the Speysides." 'Dis' suggests 'away', as well, so I'm not sure how that gels with your idea that 'to' just means a "coming together."

The plain fact is that, in everyday British speech, different to is frequent, despite the fact that some people consider it wrong. Consequently, in response to the actual question here, one might certainly say that that different to is perfectly correct in colloquial usage.

I still agree with Fowler as regards the logic of using different to, though - as I said in my earlier response - I myself would never say either different to OR different than!

[joggerjayne]

Things can only differ "from" other things.

Likewise, they can only be similar "to" other things.

To say that something was "different to" something ...

... would be like saying it was "similar from" something.

[mike11111]

I confess to using dashes though I should know better. It seems to have replaced the semicolon to a large extent.