We all make grammatical mistakes sometimes. But there are certain errors that I find particularly troublesome: those that involve lazy grammar. Of course, language naturally changes over time, but it would be sad for English to decline because lazy grammar usage became accepted.
The use of different than and different from is one of those troublesome errors.
Different than is incorrect. Things differ from each other; they don’t differ than each other. (There’s also different to, which is commonly used in British English but is incorrect in American English.)
Despite being incorrect, different than has been used in writing for years. Even if your readers become confused when encountering different than, they’ll probably figure out what you mean if they stop and think about it.
But you don’t want your readers to have to stop and think about the meaning of a phrase. It’ll annoy them. You’ll lose them. And you don’t want to irritate the readers who already know that different than is wrong.
Usually, the word than comes after a comparative adjective, such as faster. The word than indicates a comparison: The dog runs faster than the cat.
Although different is an adjective, it’s not a comparative adjective. The word different goes with the preposition from because it’s being used to make a distinction: The dog is different from the cat.
Different from is the standard. In writing, it’s best to stick with what’s standard.
Readers might not notice certain mistakes because they’ve become so common that the correct usage has been lost. So why bother to check if you might be making a mistake?
- Because you’re a careful, responsible writer with respect for your readers.
- Because some of your readers may know that you’ve made a mistake.
- Because you’re not lazy, and you want to produce your best work.
What’s most important is that your readers understand what you’re saying. It’s your job to ensure that understanding. If you want to set something apart and show how it differs from something else, use different from.
