Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Nice is different than good
I've been wondering for a while now whether the construction 'different than' is simply what's correct in American usage, as opposed to our 'different from'. Can anyone help on this?
When I was listening to Sondheim's "Into The Woods" many years ago, I thought that the use of 'different than' was an indication of the naivety of the two characters who used it at the stage in the musical - Little Red Ridinghood and Jack (of Beanstalk fame). But more recently, reading a lot of American academic literature, I've noticed it everywhere. The natural British thing to do would be to assume that this is an American thing, and that the Americans are wrong, but I'm willing to reserve judgement on that just to clarify the issue.
(And yes, I am a complete geek).
Comments:
Post a Comment
