Different 'From' or 'Than'?
2024-04-06
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question that was posted on our YouTube channel.
2Question to English teachers,
3What is correct to say: different from or different than?
4In the example below, which is correct?
5a) Cost of life has a different meaning than cost of living.
6b) Cost of life has a different meaning from cost of living.
7Thank you for this question. It is a good one!
8Some people say that "different than" is incorrect.
9Your grammar textbook may say you should never use "different than."
10However, in American English, we use both "different from" and "different than" to mean "not the same".
11We use them before a noun phrase. For example,
12It's different from other shows.
13State laws may be different from national laws.
14Their ideas are a little different than ours.
15We can also use them before a clause. For example.
16How are these different from the ones we had before?
17That is not any different than what I said.
18Dating is different than it was 10 years ago.
19Both phrases have the same meaning, but their usage is different.
20We use "different than" mostly in spoken English.
21It is more informal, and it is almost always used before a clause.
22We use "different from" mostly in written English, and we use it far more often than "different than."
23So, either sentence is okay in spoken American English,
24but "different from" is the better choice because it comes before a noun phrase.
25We hope this explanation has helped you.
26Do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com.
27And that's Ask a Teacher.
28I'm Gena Bennett.
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question that was posted on our YouTube channel. 2Question 3Question to English teachers, 4What is correct to say: different from or different than? 5In the example below, which is correct? 6a) Cost of life has a different meaning than cost of living. 7b) Cost of life has a different meaning from cost of living. 8Answer 9Thank you for this question. It is a good one! 10Some people say that "different than" is incorrect. Your grammar textbook may say you should never use "different than." 11However, in American English, we use both "different from" and "different than" to mean "not the same". 12We use them before a noun phrase. For example, 13It's different from other shows. 14State laws may be different from national laws. 15Their ideas are a little different than ours. 16We can also use them before a clause. For example. 17How are these different from the ones we had before? 18That is not any different than what I said. 19Dating is different than it was 10 years ago. 20Both phrases have the same meaning, but their usage is different. 21We use "different than" mostly in spoken English. It is more informal, and it is almost always used before a clause. 22We use "different from" mostly in written English, and we use it far more often than "different than." 23So, either sentence is okay in spoken American English, but "different from" is the better choice because it comes before a noun phrase. 24We hope this explanation has helped you. 25Do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. 26And that's Ask a Teacher. 27I'm Gena Bennett. 28Gena Bennett wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.