When comparing two things, what’s the correct word to use after the word different? Is it different than or different from? In the United States, different from is typical, and almost always the right choice. In Britain, the most common phrase is different to. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Different From vs. Different To”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, I’m Ruth Jones from Traverse City, Michigan.
Hi, Ruth. Welcome to the show.
Hi, Ruth.
What can we do for you?
I grew up in the thumb area of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. And there and everywhere else I’ve lived, I’ve heard people make comparisons by using the words different from or different than. But I know some folks use different to to make those same sorts of comparisons. And I’m just wondering if that’s a regional difference or…
You hear local folks saying different too?
No, I’ve never heard anybody local say different too. But I think it’s on media or in books or…
Right.
I encounter it frequently now, and I’m wondering…
Maybe you’re reading or watching or listening to things from the U.K. Because it’s much, much, much more common. It’s characteristic of the U.K. Different, too.
I do hear BBC on public radio.
There you go. There you go. That’s why you’re hearing different, too. I mean, that’s what I use in the U.K. And then I read authors who are British.
Yes.
I don’t know any American that would use different, too, except either as imitation or as pretension.
Yes, exactly.
Okay, okay. That explains it.
We still have the problem of different from and different than.
Different than.
Which one do you use?
Well, I use different from, but I hear different than just as often.
-huh.
Well, you’re in the majority there. The vast majority of people who speak American English are going to say different from. And that’s changing some. People are saying more and more different than. But the idea there is that 18th century grammarians were insisting that you should use different from because than is a word that’s generally used with comparative adjectives like bigger or louder or taller. Grant is taller than I am. His voice is deeper than mine.
There are instances where you would use different than if, say, it’s followed by a clause and it makes it easier and more succinct. For example, if you said something like our financial projections are different than they were a year ago. That would be easier to say than different from they were.
Yes, that sounds right.
Yeah.
Or sounds familiar anyway.
Right, right.
So that would be the exception. But that’s it. Different, too, is something that you’re going to hear from people in the U.K. And different from is the safe choice in the U.S.
Yes, exactly. For the most part.
Well, thank you very much.
Nice talking with you.
Thank you very much.
Great talking with you.
Take care now.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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