Compared with versus compared to

Hi Sunflower,

Both are in very common use.
I would hazard a guess that most users just use the one that is most common in their locality.

I was able to find this explanation, but I do not believe most users would feel there was any difference - only that one is more familiar to them than the other.

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Compare with or Compare to?

To identify either the similarities or the differences between two things, use "compare to." To identify both the similaritie

For those who enjoy reading him, Fowler (Modern English Usage) concurs, Mike, and offers a brief discussion.

I don't have the Fowler, but John Eastwood's 'Oxford Guide to English Grammar' makes no differentiation, at least for the example sentence given.

Cheers

On inspection, my Oxford dictionary does show a difference when used in ways other than our original example.

'Compare to' can also mean 'liken', declare to be similar; 'he compared (likened) the human body to a machine'

'Compare with' can also mean be worthy of comparison; 'he cannot compare with Patrick White as a novelist'. (he is not worthy of being compared to Patrick Whi

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your attention! I really appreciated your help!
Cheers

Hello

Compare to/with

My understanding is as follows:

(1) Z compares X to Y (positive/metaphoric) :You can compare Earth to a ship.
(2) Z compares X with Y (neutral/negative) :Compare Earth with Mars.
(3) X compares with Y --> X competes with Y :No country can compare with China in the population size.

Am I right?

Agreed, paco.

Nicely delineated in principle, though I don't understand the "negative" part.

In reality, however, I feel the distinction between (1) and (2) has been quite blurry.
My empirical intuition is that [compare ...to...] is freewheeling, (i.e., it can be used either way), while [compare ... with...] strictly sticks to its original definition (i.e., not used as a

Hello KoMountain

Thank you. I like your comments because they always contain something informative.

Yes you are right. NES people seem not to differentiate 'compare with' and 'compare to' except in some special cases. When they use 'compare' as a synonym of 'metaphorically liken', they tend to choose 'to'. It may be because 'liken to' is more natural than 'liken with'. When t

As taught to me by an editor at Stanford Research Institute:

"Compared with" is used when comparing two things in the same class, such as, "That mare is slow compared with this stallion."

Hence, "compared to" is used when comparing two things of separate classes, such as, "She compared his ennui to a knockoff Rolex--fake and worn to impress others."

I think there is