a person not too dissimilar from/to?

[Harrison Hill]

You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?

[gram...@verizon.net]

On Saturday, July 20, 2013 9:38:51 AM UTC-4, Harrison Hill wrote:
> You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?

Depends where you are. In England, apparently, you are "different to"
somebody, in the US "different from them."

Maybe something similar happens with "similar," and they'd say
"dissimilar to."

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:45:57 -0700 (PDT), gram...@verizon.net wrote:

>On Saturday, July 20, 2013 9:38:51 AM UTC-4, Harrison Hill wrote:
>> You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?
>
>Depends where you are. In England, apparently, you are "different to"
>somebody, in the US "different from them."
>

In England the "correct" form is "different from". We Englishers notice
that our strange America cousins think we are "different than" them.

>Maybe something similar happens with "similar," and they'd say
>"dissimilar to."

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[quia...@yahoo.com]

On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:38:51 -0700 (PDT), Harrison Hill
<harrison...@gmail.com> wrote:

>You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?

I'd use "dissimilar to". It gets about twice as many hits at Google
books.

--
John

[gram...@verizon.net]

On Saturday, July 20, 2013 11:25:06 AM UTC-4, PeterWD wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:45:57 -0700 (PDT), gram...@verizon.net wrote:
> >On Saturday, July 20, 2013 9:38:51 AM UTC-4, Harrison Hill wrote:
>
> >> You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?
>
> >Depends where you are. In England, apparently, you are "different to"
> >somebody, in the US "different from them."
>
> In England the "correct" form is "different from". We Englishers notice
> that our strange America cousins think we are "different than" them.

"Different from" and "different than" occur in different syntactic contexts.

"Different to" appeared in aue within the last 24 hours.

[Dingbat]

On Saturday, July 20, 2013 11:25:06 AM UTC-4, PeterWD wrote:

> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:45:57 -0700 (PDT), gram...@verizon.net wrote:
>
> >Depends where you are. In England, apparently, you are "different to"
> >somebody, in the US "different from them."
>
> In England the "correct" form is "different from". We Englishers notice
> that our strange America cousins think we are "different than" them.
>

Is "different than" bad grammar?
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2295/is-different-than-bad-grammar
Bernstein admits that there are instances in which different than is preferable. He cites some quotes originally dredged up by Bergen Evans: "How different things appear in Washington than in London." "It has possessed me in a different way than ever before." To use from in these sentences would require some lumbering construction like, "How different things appear in Washington from the way they appear in London." Bernstein and Evans offer a rather vague rationale for why than is OK, but it boils down to this: In the sentences above, than functions as a conjunction, not a preposition. The first is a condensed version of "How different things appear in Washington than they do in London"; the expanded form of the second would conclude, "than it ever has before."

So there's our rule. When different is followed by a prepositional phrase, the preposition should be from. When it's followed by a dependent clause introduced by a conjunction (even if much of the clause is elliptical), the conjunction should be than.

[Mike L]

On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 12:23:54 -0700 (PDT), gram...@verizon.net wrote:

>On Saturday, July 20, 2013 11:25:06 AM UTC-4, PeterWD wrote:
>> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:45:57 -0700 (PDT), gram...@verizon.net wrote:
>> >On Saturday, July 20, 2013 9:38:51 AM UTC-4, Harrison Hill wrote:
>>
>> >> You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?
>>
>> >Depends where you are. In England, apparently, you are "different to"
>> >somebody, in the US "different from them."
>>
>> In England the "correct" form is "different from". We Englishers notice
>> that our strange America cousins think we are "different than" them.
>
>
>"Different from" and "different than" occur in different syntactic contexts.

Yes, but I find it hard to think of a case in which I would use
"different than". Well, if referring to degrees of difference with
"more"; but that's different.

>
>"Different to" appeared in aue within the last 24 hours.

"Different to" is commonly used, yes; but not accepted in formal
language - yet. Some of us don't use it even colloquially.

>
>
>> >Maybe something similar happens with "similar," and they'd say
>> >"dissimilar to."

--
Mike.

[Stan Brown]

On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 16:25:06 +0100, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
>
> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:45:57 -0700 (PDT), gram...@verizon.net wrote:
>
> >On Saturday, July 20, 2013 9:38:51 AM UTC-4, Harrison Hill wrote:
> >> You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?
> >
> >Depends where you are. In England, apparently, you are "different to"
> >somebody, in the US "different from them."
> >
> In England the "correct" form is "different from". We Englishers notice
> that our strange America cousins think we are "different than" them.

"That /different/ can only be followed by /from/ and not by /to/ is a
superstition." -- Fowler in MEU2. He goes on to quote the OED's
approval of /to/, and after a long paragraph adds "This does not
imply that /different from/ is wrong; on the contrary it is 'now
usual' (OED), but it is only so owing to the dead set made against
/different to/ by mistaken critics."

Of course in AmE, "different to" is not idiomatic. "Different from"
is also wrong in AmE, though the error is common.

--
"The difference between the /almost right/ word and the /right/ word
is ... the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."
--Mark Twain
Stan Brown, Tompkins County, NY, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com

[Stan Brown]

On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 22:39:55 +0100, Mike L wrote:
> Yes, but I find it hard to think of a case in which I would use
> "different than".
>

"The results of the race were different than he said they would be."

I still hold that "than" is a conjunction, even though prepositional
uses are probably more common nowadays.

[gram...@verizon.net]

On Saturday, July 20, 2013 6:49:03 PM UTC-4, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 22:39:55 +0100, Mike L wrote:
>
> > Yes, but I find it hard to think of a case in which I would use
> > "different than".
>
> "The results of the race were different than he said they would be."

They could always reword that as "... different from what he said ...."

[Robin Bignall]

On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 18:46:52 -0400, Stan Brown
<the_sta...@fastmail.fm> wrote:

>On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 16:25:06 +0100, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:45:57 -0700 (PDT), gram...@verizon.net wrote:
>>
>> >On Saturday, July 20, 2013 9:38:51 AM UTC-4, Harrison Hill wrote:
>> >> You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?
>> >
>> >Depends where you are. In England, apparently, you are "different to"
>> >somebody, in the US "different from them."
>> >
>> In England the "correct" form is "different from". We Englishers notice
>> that our strange America cousins think we are "different than" them.
>
>"That /different/ can only be followed by /from/ and not by /to/ is a
>superstition." -- Fowler in MEU2. He goes on to quote the OED's
>approval of /to/, and after a long paragraph adds "This does not
>imply that /different from/ is wrong; on the contrary it is 'now
>usual' (OED), but it is only so owing to the dead set made against
>/different to/ by mistaken critics."
>
>Of course in AmE, "different to" is not idiomatic. "Different from"
>is also wrong in AmE, though the error is common.

Interesting. In my opinion, the first examples quoted in Dingbat's post
were fine in my English, because the "different" and the "than" were not
adjacent. It's when they are that my BrE ears droop.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England (BrE)

[Robert Bannister]

On 21/07/13 6:49 AM, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 22:39:55 +0100, Mike L wrote:
>> Yes, but I find it hard to think of a case in which I would use
>> "different than".
>>
>
> "The results of the race were different than he said they would be."
>
> I still hold that "than" is a conjunction, even though prepositional
> uses are probably more common nowadays.
>

"different from what he said"

--
Robert Bannister

[Peter Moylan]

On 21/07/13 08:49, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 22:39:55 +0100, Mike L wrote:
>> Yes, but I find it hard to think of a case in which I would use
>> "different than".
>>
>
> "The results of the race were different than he said they would be."

I would never spontaneously say that. It's not in my language.

>
> I still hold that "than" is a conjunction, even though prepositional
> uses are probably more common nowadays.
>


--

Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

[annily]

On 21.07.13 08:16, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 16:25:06 +0100, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:45:57 -0700 (PDT), gram...@verizon.net wrote:
>>
>>> On Saturday, July 20, 2013 9:38:51 AM UTC-4, Harrison Hill wrote:
>>>> You are "similar to" somebody, but "not too dissimilar from" somebody, aren't you?
>>>
>>> Depends where you are. In England, apparently, you are "different to"
>>> somebody, in the US "different from them."
>>>
>> In England the "correct" form is "different from". We Englishers notice
>> that our strange America cousins think we are "different than" them.
>
> "That /different/ can only be followed by /from/ and not by /to/ is a
> superstition." -- Fowler in MEU2. He goes on to quote the OED's
> approval of /to/, and after a long paragraph adds "This does not
> imply that /different from/ is wrong; on the contrary it is 'now
> usual' (OED), but it is only so owing to the dead set made against
> /different to/ by mistaken critics."
>
> Of course in AmE, "different to" is not idiomatic. "Different from"
> is also wrong in AmE, though the error is common.
>

Why is "different from" wrong in AmE?

--
Lifelong resident of Adelaide, South Australia

[Stan Brown]

On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 18:46:52 -0400, Stan Brown wrote:
>
> Of course in AmE, "different to" is not idiomatic. "Different from"
> is also wrong in AmE, though the error is common.

Sorry, that was a thinko. I meant to say "Different THAN" is wrong
in the US, though the error is common. "Different from" is the
correct from.

Edward Johnson, under "different from" in /The Handbook of Good
English/, says "/Different from/ is the standard American phrase, as
in /My children are different from me/. ... /Different than/, as in
/My children are different than me/, is quite common but much
criticized, on the grounds that /than/ should be used only with
comparatives ... and that it should not be used as a preposition but
only as a conjunction."

[Stan Brown]

It's not -- I meant to say "different THAN". Apologies for causing
confusion.

[Robert Bannister]

On 21/07/13 7:57 PM, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 18:46:52 -0400, Stan Brown wrote:
>>
>> Of course in AmE, "different to" is not idiomatic. "Different from"
>> is also wrong in AmE, though the error is common.
>
> Sorry, that was a thinko. I meant to say "Different THAN" is wrong
> in the US, though the error is common. "Different from" is the
> correct from.

A beautiful double Skitt.
--
Robert Bannister

[annily]

On 21.07.13 21:28, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Jul 2013 17:02:46 +0930, annily wrote:
>>
>> On 21.07.13 08:16, Stan Brown wrote:
>>> "Different from" is also wrong in AmE, though the error is common.
>>>
>>
>> Why is "different from" wrong in AmE?
>
> It's not -- I meant to say "different THAN". Apologies for causing
> confusion.
>

No worries. For a while, I thought I'd missed something in American usage.

[Stan Brown]

I really am terrible at proofreading my own work on screen.