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Permian · 11-11-2006, 07:17 PM

Or possibly I should say that I personally do not use it, though you will no doubt have heard it used by many others in the British media. My own view is that the correct form is 'different from'. Consider the sentence ' This item differs from that item' which could also be written as 'This item is different from that item'. I don't believe that anyone would say 'This item differs to that item', and consequently I don't believe that 'to' is correct in the second form either. However, English has changed over the years, and many changes have resulted from incorrect usage, which has subsequently become accepted simply because it is so common, and this would appear to be the case with 'different to'. The infrequency of use of this form in the USA is probably explained by divergence of the two languages over 3 or 4 centuries.

11-11-2006, 07:17 PM	#2
Permian New Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	'We people' do not use 'different to' Or possibly I should say that I personally do not use it, though you will no doubt have heard it used by many others in the British media. My own view is that the correct form is 'different from'. Consider the sentence ' This item differs from that item' which could also be written as 'This item is different from that item'. I don't believe that anyone would say 'This item differs to that item', and consequently I don't believe that 'to' is correct in the second form either. However, English has changed over the years, and many changes have resulted from incorrect usage, which has subsequently become accepted simply because it is so common, and this would appear to be the case with 'different to'. The infrequency of use of this form in the USA is probably explained by divergence of the two languages over 3 or 4 centuries.