Different ... to

Question

This is a different service to the one we provided before.Is this correct and does it mean "this is a service different to the one we provided"?Thanks.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

LiveinjapanThis is a different service to the one we provided before.
Is this correct and does it mean "this is a service different to the one we provided"?

Hi, LiJ,

According to my experience, "to" is incorrect.

A differs from B.

A is different from B.

If you substitute "from" in you two sentences, the answer is "yes." Their meanings are both the same.

Best wishes,

- A.

Cool Breeze · Answer

LiveinjapanThis is a different service to the one we provided before.

Ages ago, when I was a student of English Philology at Helsinki University, I and some other students were given an assignment to translate a passage of Finnish text into English. It was our homework. The American lecturer who marked our papers considered different from correct in the following sentence: His hat was tilted in a different direction from his head.

A few days later the American had to change the hours of his classes and I was compelled to go to another similar Usage of English group. By coincidence, I was given exactly the same translation assignment by my new lecturer, a Scottish lady. She considered different from incorrect. In her opinion it had to be: His hat was tilted in a different direction to his head. (She also gave me a better grade for my work than she would have given the American for the version he had corrected!

I know that because I handed in the American lecturer's version.)

I couldn't care less which preposition is used. This note on usage is from Random House Unabridged Dictionary (American):

—Usage. Although it is frequently claimed that DIFFERENT should be followed only by FROM, not by THAN, in actual usage both words occur and have for at least 300 years. FROM is more common today in introducing a phrase, but THAN is also used: New York speech is different from (or than) that of Chicago. THAN is used to introduce a clause: The stream followed a different course than the map showed. In sentences of this type, FROM is sometimes used instead of THAN; when it is, more words are necessary: a different course from the one the map showed. Regardless of the sentence construction, both FROM and THAN are standard after DIFFERENT in all varieties of spoken and written American English. In British English TO frequently follows DIFFERENT: The early illustrations are very different to the later ones. The use of DIFFERENT in the sense “unusual” is well established in all but the most formal American English: The décor in the new restaurant is really different.

CB

Liveinjapan · Answer

Thanks so much, Avangi and CB.

I get it!

Avangi · Answer

Cool BreezeI couldn't care less which preposition is used.

Hi, CB.
In my opinion your anecdote involves two different senses.

I'd be comfortable with "His hat was tilted at a different angle to his head."

This is structurally similar to saying, "His hat was tilted at a peculiar angle to his head."

The angle of his hat to his head is different.

But, The angle of his hat to his head is different from what it was yesterday.

I can't believe you'd accept "You are quite different to Jane."

Best regards,

- A.

Edit. The Random House reference doesn't mention "to."

Look at his hat! Its direction to his head is different! This must be uniquely Scottish.

Cool Breeze · Answer

AvangiI can't believe you'd accept "You are quite different to Jane."

I don't think I'd say that. Actually, I think whenever different from seems applicable, I use that. This is probably because I was taught to say so when I learned the word different in school. It wasn't until several years later that I encountered different to. The first person to introduce me to it may have been the Scottish lecturer.

Cool Breeze · Answer

Avangi The Random House reference doesn't mention "to."

Avangi, you need to re-read it!

"In British English TO frequently follows DIFFERENT: The early illustrations are very different to the later ones.2

CB

Avangi · Answer

Cool BreezeIn British English TO frequently follows DIFFERENT

Sorry, CB. How did I miss that?

So I guess the British would say, She is quite different to Jane.

It's a new one on me!

Maybe that's "frequently" with a stipulation.

- A.

Cool Breeze · Answer

AvangiSo I guess the British would say, She is quite different to Jane.

Some of them would say that, not all of them. I checked the two British dictionaries that I have, Collins Concise Dictionary and Cambridge Learner's Dictionary. They agree that "from" is used in both British and American English and "to" is to some extent used in British English.

Avangi · Answer

Thanks for you help on this, CB.

Well, I notice the sun is just over the yardarm.

Different ... to

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions