Different from or different than: In British English, andits cousins, you can't follow 'different' with 'than'. Although people use both'to' and 'from', the preferred use is 'from'. Fowler, 'English Usage' doesn't evenmention 'different than', probably because he wasn't aware of it at the time:it is definitely US usage. And, here in Britain, it's generally consideredunacceptable. Things are logically different from one another, and using 'than'after 'different' is regarded as a grammatical blunder.
'The bikini Elle's wearing is different from the one wornby Corinne, but I think that Elle's is better than hers.'
Picture: the North Sea at Bridlington, East Yorkshire.
Published on July 10, 2011 07:00