Word Rant: Different from vs. different than

You know how some things stick with you, and you never forget them?  Well, "different from" is one of those things for me.  I had written a paper for one of my college classes, and the paper came back with this written in the margin in red and each instance was underlined three times:

Different from!

Different from!

Different from!

Guess who hasn't written "different than" since then?

I was telling Stacy this the other day, and she disagreed.  "Why can't it be different than?" she asked.  I told  her I thought it was because you use from with the word differs, and different is a derivative of differs.  She disagreed again.  "Unh unh.  They're different words." 

Different from what?  :-)

So, we bet on it (we never agreed upon the terms, though), and off I went to research the subject.  My source?  The only source for style:  The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.  There on page 70 it says,

Different than.  Here logic supports established usage:  one things differs from another, hence, different from.  Or, other than, unlike.

Nope, no mention of different than being an acceptable usage.

What do I win, Stacy?  :-)

Comments

[Stacy Brice]

I don't concede defeat!

Unlike you, I don't view Strunk and White as the definitive source on style, and so I shall refer you to section 1077 in the Gregg Reference Manual which says:

Different than: Although "different from" is normally preferred, "than" is acceptable, in order to avoid sentences like, "I view the matter in a different way from the way in which you do."

Additionally, the American Heritage Book of English Usage, says:

"If you want to follow traditional guidelines, use from when the comparison is between two persons or things: My book is different from (not than) yours. Different than is more acceptably used, particularly in American usage, where the object of comparison is expressed by a full clause: The campus is different than it was twenty years ago. You can use different from with a clause if the clause starts with a conjunction and so functions as a noun: The campus is different from how it was twenty years ago."

Oh, and btw? While "differs from" is correct, so is "differs with," and "differs about." So I think your reason for why it's "different from" is not especially valid. We should look harder and figure this out!

Bottom line (for me): I think each phrase has appropriate uses. I don't think either works all the time.

So, do you win? I can let you if you really wanna. :)

Moving along--are you ready to tackle the issue of which numbers are spelled out? I have that answer handy, too ;>

Love,
S

[Dawn Goldberg]

Ooooh, a fight!!! I do so love a fight!!! :-)

Elements of Style is my bible, although I acknowledge that Gregg is yours. :-)

Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers is my second source, and here is what it has to say about different from vs. different than:

From is the preferred preposition after different, although than is commonly used in speech. Football is different from [not different than] soccer.

However, I won't ever accept a justification of "Different than is more acceptably used, particularly in American usage..." I think our British friends would agree that Americans screw up the language all the time. Hence, Feb-u-ary.

:-)

I guess we'll have to settle this with numbers. :-)

[Stacy Brice]

In the immortal words of George and Ira Gershwin:

Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat,
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that,
Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh I don't know where I'm at
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done:
You say either and I say either,
You say neither and I say neither
Either, either
Neither, neither
Let's call the whole thing off.

Ok--let's not call the whole thing off (I'd be so sad without you!). But let's agree to disagree on this point.

On to numbers! :)

xoxox
S

[Chris Goldberg]

Well, I found this discussion rather interesting, so I promised Dawn that I would chime in. I attempted to write this post fully prepared to state my position, then got distracted. I focus too much during the day I guess ...

Anyway, I found this an interesting summation of the argument:
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxdiffer.html
I especially liked the table at the end, which then throws an independant-party candidate into the mix - "different to" (UK).

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

Not a bad contribution for an ex-engineer, eh? (Sorry for the bad formatting of the table. The form doesn't take blank spaces or html for tables. Just go to the link!)